Lent II - Wednesday, February 20, 2002

President Mark Schroeder



Psalm 110:1-3
The LORD says to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies.  Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy majesty, from the womb of the dawn you will receive the dew of youth.



It happens all the time. People say things that turn out to be more true than they ever expected or imagined.


Apollo 13 was to be the third manned mission to the moon. Shortly after leaving earth orbit on the way to the moon, the three astronauts on board heard a bang and noticed some unusual readings on their instruments.  The pilot radioed matter of factly those now famous words, “Houston, we have a problem.” Those words proved to be more than true, as the problem of an exploded oxygen tank very nearly cost the three men their lives.

People sometimes say things that are more true and accurate than they expected or imagined. In 1996, an advisor to the president wrote in a report, “We believe that the greatest terrorist threat to the US is posed by . . . by a man who at that time few people had heard of . . . by Osama bin Laden.” The truth turned out to be just as he said . . . and more.


Last summer, an executive at a high flying energy company saw things in her company that made her nervous. She notified her boss that there were things in the way the company was doing business that might cause some problems down the road. That company was one named Enron . . . and what that executive wrote was more true than she could ever have imagined. In all those cases, it was just as they had said . . . and more.


Tonight, in our Lenten worship, we are continuing our annual journey with our Savior to his suffering and death on the cross. As we follow in his steps, we are looking at the events of Jesus’ passion through the words of some of the Psalms. In the words that we just heard from Psalm 110, we are reminded of exactly who and what Jesus was as those words echo what took place when Jesus was on trial before the Jewish religious high court and before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. In these places, too, we will find people making statements about Jesus – statements that while they did not believe the words and didn’t realize the truth of what they were saying – were in fact just as they said and more. This man who stood before the high Priest Caiahphas was God, just as Caiaphas had said. This accused criminal, who later stood before a skeptical Pontius Pilate, was a king, just as Pilate had said.


  1. This man was God

Does it surprise you that so many people today can’t really see who Jesus really was? Most people – even many who are Christians in name – are not really ready to say that Jesus is True God.They would rather think of him as a kind and good man; someone who demonstrated love and humility; someone who talked a lot about what it means to be godly; someone who has a lot to say about how we should live and the kind of people we should be.


But you know, saying that Jesus was just a man – a good man – and nothing more is the only view of Jesus that just doesn’t make sense.After all, this man that so many call a good man and a fine teacher made some very bold claims. When the Pharisees claimed that they were the true children of Abraham, this man said, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” He was claiming to be eternal. He was claiming to be the Great Jehovah, the great I AM, who had come in human form. This man that so many call a good man said, “I and the Father are one.” He claimed to be God himself. This man Jesus had the audacity to say that no one – no one – can come to God the Father except through him. This man that so many call a good man claimed that he would, by his very own power, raise himself from the dead. That he would come in the clouds with power and great glory. That he would judge the world and sit at the right hand of the Father.


A man – especially someone who is a good man who tells the truth – does not make those claims. Jesus claimed to be God. So he was either a liar, claiming to be something he wasn’t’; or he was crazy, thinking he was God when he wasn’t; or, he was exactly who and what he claimed: true God, the Son of God in human form.


The Pharisees didn’t think of Jesus as a good man. They had plotted for some time now to kill this man who claimed to be God. When Jesus finally came to Jerusalem, surrounded by singing crowds, they knew they had to act. If they waited any longer, things would get totally out of their control. They would lose their power, their influence, their position. This Jesus, who was making these wild claims, would ruin it all for them.


So they arrested him and dragged him before their religious supreme court and put him on trial. They wanted to convict him and sentence him to death. And so, after a number of false witnesses tried and failed to make some charges stick, trying to make him commit the sin of blasphemy, the high priest Caiaphas asked Jesus a direct question: “I charge you under oath by the living God, Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.”


Caiaphas was not speaking these words from faith. They were words of unbelief and contempt. But as so often happens, the words that Caiaphas spoke were more true than he could ever have imagined. It was just as he had said. That man standing before him was the Christ. He was the Son of God. Jesus looked at him as said, “Yes, it is as you have said.” Jesus knew that those words of Psalm 110 were talking about him: The Lord said to my Lord, sit and my right hand. It was just as Caiaphas had so unintentionally said.


People today still challenge and question and deny that Jesus was and is true God, the eternal God, the Lord of all creation, the one who was, who is, and who is to come. The great world religions – Judaism, Islam, Buddhism deny Jesus is God. Sects like the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons deny that Jesus is God. Even many Christian theologians have real trouble confessing that Jesus is who he claimed to be.


And it doesn’t stop there. You see, as the leaders of the Jews gathered to pull Jesus down from his position as true God, you and I were there. We would not deny that Jesus is God with our lips; but don’t our hearts, our attitudes, and our actions sometimes do just that? We do not give Jesus glory as God


How thankful we can be that Jesus, the man who was and is God, the one who sits on the right hand of his Father, came to this world as a man to give his life for us. Every time we thoughtlessly shove him away, he draws us back.  Every time we forget about him, he remembers us. Every time we love something more than we love him, he loves us with a love that just will not quit. A love that brought him to this trial. A love that moved him to go out of the courtroom, all the way to the cross. For sinners like you and me.


  1. This “criminal” was a King

Once Jesus had made the statement to Caiaphas that he was the Son of God, the Jewish leaders had all they needed. In their eyes Jesus had committed blasphemy, the sin of speaking against God and putting yourself in the place of God. But they had no legal power to put Jesus to death. Only the Roman government could do that.


But accusing Jesus of religious blasphemy would not mean anything to the Roman legal authorities. So they came up with a new accusation – one that the Romans would pay attention to. They brought Jesus to the roman governor Pontius Pilate with this accusation: “This man claims to be a king; and therefore is a threat to the authority and rule of Caesar himself.”


So Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus simply gave the same answer as before. “Yes, it is as you say.”


To Pilate, Jesus was not a king. He didn’t look the part. There was no golden crown; only a mocking crown of thorns pressed into his bleeding head. There was no royal gown; only the simple clothes now dirty and bloodied. There was no army to rally around him; only a few cowardly followers who ran away at the first sign of trouble.


But appearances can be deceiving.  Was he really a king? Yes, Jesus said, it was just as Pilate had said. This accused criminal was indeed a king. And not just any king.


This was the one who was at his Father’s side when the world was created. This was the one who would some day crush the head of the world’s greatest enemy. This was the descendant who was promised to Abraham, the one through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed. This was the one who in a pillar of bright, smoky, fiery light led his people from Egypt to the promised land. This was the one whose birth was announced by angels. This was the one who showed small glimpses of his power as he healed the sick, raised the dead, and stilled the storm. This was the one of whom David wrote in the Psalm, “The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies.” This was the one who said to his people, I will never leave you or forsake you. This was the one who said, “In the future, you will see me coming in the clouds in power and great glory.” This was the one of whom Paul would write, “Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!”


Pilate did not see in Jesus a King. Do we?


We live in a world in which Jesus’ over all things is sometimes so hard for us, in our weak faith to see. It’s a world filled with wickedness and injustice. A world in which husbands and wives fall out of love, in which children rebel against their parents, a world in which wicked people seem to have it all, a world in which trouble and sorrow and difficulty cast shadows on every day. We may wonder, “Is Jesus really ruling over all things?”


The proof of that is not in the world around us. The proof of that is in what this king did for us in love. He gave up his throne. He became a man. He subjected himself to unspeakable humiliation and shame and suffering. He allowed himself to be condemned to death. He suffered the pain of hell itself, and died.


Why? Because as our king – our good and gracious king – he was doing the only thing that could be done to set us free, to rescue us, to give us an eternity of joy with him in all the glory of heaven. As our King, he gave up everything he had, so that we sinners could join him someday around his throne. And that same King who gave so much for us then, also assures us that he is with us now. Guiding and shaping the events of this world for our eternal good; protecting us from harm. Giving us the opportunity to live our lives as people who appreciate what this king has done for us.


Several years ago a husband and wife and their young son went on sailboat ride on Lake Superior. They were enjoying the day so much out on the lake that they didn’t notice the storm from approaching. When they finally noticed it, they began to make their way to shore. But the front overtook them with a fury. The little sailboat was tossed and capsized. In the howling winds, the father managed to grab hold of his wife and his son, neither of whom could swim very well. He shouted above the roar of the wind, just hold on to my shoulders, and I will swim to shore. It seemed like hours that he struggled against the wind and waves. He got to the point of exhaustion and blurted out, “I don’t know if I can make it.” Without any response, he felt the hands of his wife slip off his shoulders. After a while, he and his son staggered onto the shore.


It was a few days after the funeral that the father came into the family room of their home to find his son, looking at his mother’s picture; he was crying. The father said to his son, “I know how sad you are and how much it hurts.” The boy said, “This time I’m not crying because I’m sad. I’m crying because it finally hit me. What hit you? She let go for me.”


This man was really God. This criminal really was a king. Who gave it all up so that we could live. Every day, thank God it was just as they said.