In Jesus Holy Name Easter VII 2020
Text: John 17:5 Redeemer
“I Am … Eternity to Eternity”
Two Thousand years ago Jesus asked his disciples: “Who do people say that I am? It was a good question. Answers are still coming in. Some see Jesus as a great ethical teacher. He preached with compassion. He worked miracles. Changed the lives of people he touched. Yet, powerful forces challenged His authority and claims to being the Old Testament God of Israel who was now visibly in their presence.
I love this verse (John 17:5) (read again) We all know that when we read our bible it is sometimes easy to miss the meaning of a particular verse. This verse sums up all of the “I Am” statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John.
For the past six Sundays these messages have been shaped by the words of Jesus. “I Am” the living water.” Spoken to the woman at the well in Samaria. “I Am” the bread of life” spoken those who attended the feeding of the 5000 along the shores of the Sea of Galilee. “I Am” the resurrection and the life.” Spoken at the tomb of Lazarus. “I AM” the Gate. “I Am” the Good Shepherd prophesized in Ezekiel 34, spoken to the Pharisees and religious leaders in Jerusalem.
Jesus declared that He was the “I Am” of the Exodus. He announced, "I am the Good Shepherd" (John 10:11), a title the Old Testament ascribed to God (Psalm 23:1; Ez. 34). He called Himself the bridegroom (Matthew 25:1), a role God played with Israel (Isaiah 62:5). He forgave sins (Mark 2:5); only God can forgive sins. Of course, the Pharisees grasped the implication that Jesus was claiming to be God, and they looked for ways to kill Him for blasphemy. They knew what His words meant. God was in their midst, but they did not believe. (Mark 14:64-65).
They did not appreciate his miracles. They did not appreciate His teaching. They did not appreciate the fact that He healed people on the Sabbath, breaking their precious rules. They were furious when Jesus said: “The Father and I are one.” They immediately picked up stones to stone Him because they knew Jesus was claiming equality with the Creator of the Universe, The God who rescued their ancestors from slavery in Egypt. (John 10)
After the Passover meal. After the washing of the disciples feet. After telling His disciples that one day soon, His Holy Spirit would be a gift to all believers. Jesus offers a prayer: It begins: “Father the time has come.” Restore the glory I had with you in the beginning.
For 38 years from 1965 to 1993 Teddy Kollek was the Mayor of Jerusalem. He was enormously popular in his day. He often met with Christian leaders to discuss issues of mutual interest from Middle East security and the possibility of Peace. But eventually questions would arise regarding Jesus and the Jews. Was Jesus the Messiah of Israel?
On one occasion when Teddy Kollek was asked if Jesus was indeed the Messiah, he crafted a simple answer. He said that when the Messiah comes, a committee of Christians and Jews should form a committee, compose a list of questions, and then seek an audience with the Messiah. At the top of their list should be this question:
“Sir, have you ever been here before?” (Source: Jerusalem, My Home).
It’s a good line, and one that you might expect a politician to use. It points out the whole difference between Jews and Christians.
“Sir, have you ever been here before?”
Christians answer one way. Jews answer another.
There really is no middle ground. Either Jesus was the Jewish Messiah, or He wasn’t. Is He deity from eternity or did His life begin in a manger? Is Jesus the image of the invisible God? Or a holy Man that God chose to empower? Is Jesus is co-eternal with the Father? Was He the One responsible for creation? These are serious questions. These are good questions.
Week after week you have been watching the worship service on your computer or television, because as a nation we are “sheltering in". We are anxious. We’d like for this to be over. All of us are like children, sitting in the back seat of our family car on a long Road trip. The Road trip is becoming longer than our patience can handle. So we ask: “Are we there yet?” “How much longer?” “We are tired of sheltering in… how much longer?
When I read the prayer of Jesus, I must remember that this prayer of Jesus is at the end of the Passover meal with His disciples. His emotions are wrung out. He knows what is to come. He has washed their feet. He has predicted his betrayal by Judas who goes directly to the Pharisees who paid him 30 pieces of silver.
When Jesus begins His prayer I sense in His words the same longing that you and I have for end of a long road trip. How much longer? If you listen closely you can hear tiredness in his voice. You can feel the weight of rejection by so many who saw His miracles.
“Father, the time has come….” Do you feel it? I’m so tired of challenges, the denials. Their failure to believe in You, in Me. When will it end? “Father the time as come…” I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.”
Stop! Don’t gloss over these few words without thinking. What was that work? What did God send Jesus to do?
Do you remember the words of the angel to Joseph? “Do not be afraid, Joseph, you are to give the child of Mary the name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” He never gave in to the temptations of Satan. His life was perfect. Never a mistake. Never a broken commandment. This was His work. He said: “I am the Good Shepherd”. He healed people from disease. He raised the dead. And said: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me shall have eternal life.”
Listen again to the most dramatic claim of Jesus on the eve of His arrest. John heard. Do you hear it? “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”
Let me speak those words again. “Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” My friends that is eternity past.
Jesus is saying: Yes, I was there to fling the stars and galaxies into an endless, expanding universe. Yes, I spoke. Out of nothing the sky was filled with life.” The waters roared to life. The call of the whale, the dolphin, brought music to the seas.
Then “He placed one scoop of clay upon another until a form lay lifeless on the ground. All of the Garden’s inhabitants paused to witness the event. Hawks hovered. Giraffes stretched. Trees bowed. Butterflies paused on petals and watched.” (Max Lucado the Choice)
The Apostle Paul describes Jesus in these words? “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers: all things were created by Him and for Him, and He is before all things and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him should all things dwell."
“The Creator of the Universe walked on in time, further and further into the future, until He stood by a tree. A tree that would be fashioned into a cradle. Even then, He could smell the hay that would surround Himself. With another step into the future, He paused before another tree. It stood alone, a stubborn ruler of a rocky hill. The trunk was thick. The wood was strong. And soon He would be mounted on it. He felt the wood rub against a back He did not yet wear.”
In the dawn of creation, The angel asked: “Will you go down there?” “I will.”
“Is there another way?” “There isn’t”
“Wouldn’t it be easier to make human beings like the universe, to reflect your glory like the sky?” Why give this man and woman the gift of choice?
The Creator answered. “Yes, but to remove choice is to remove love.” Love must be freely given. This man and woman are created in my image.”
The Creator saw His future. He looked around the hill and foresaw a scene. Three figures hung on three crosses. Arms spread, heads fallen forward. They moaned with the wind. Men clad in soldiers’ garb sat on the ground near the trio. They played games in the dirt and laughed. Men clad in religion stood off to one side. They smiled. Arrogant. Cocky. They had protected God, they thought,
by killing this false one.
Women clad in sorrow huddled at the foot of the hill. Speechless faces, tear
streaked. Eyes downward. One put her arm around another and tried to lead her away. She would not leave. “ I will stay,” she said. “I will stay.”
All heaven stood to fight. The Angels gathered their arms for fight. All nature rose to rescue. All eternity poised to protect. But the Creator gave no command. “It must be done….” He said, and withdrew. As He stepped back in time. He heard the cry that He would someday scream: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” He wrenched at tomorrow’s agony. (Max Lucado the Choice)
Why? I have loved this world of my creation. This is my forgiveness on display, at the cross, at the cross. He died. The perfect sacrifice. His work on earth was finished. But all is not finished. Soon the Creator’s Sprit would break the seal of stone. The iron fetters of death would shatter as he rises from death and the grave.
The Creator and the angels stepped into the Garden again. The Maker looked earnestly at His clay creation. Love swelled up within Him. God’s form bent over the sculptured face and breathed. Dust stirred on the lips of the new one. The chest rose, cracking the red mud. The cheeks freshened. A finger moved and an eye opened.
But more incredible than the moving flesh was the stirring of the spirit. Those who could see the unseen gasped. Perhaps it was the wind who said it first. Perhaps what the stars saw in that moment is what makes them blink ever since. Maybe it was left to an angel to whisper it: “It looks like…. It appears so much like ….it is Him!”
The angel wasn’t speaking of the face, the features, or the body. He was looking inside…. At the soul. “It’s eternal!” Do you understand? Your soul is eternal.
Remember the question? “Sir, have you ever been here before?”
He spared not even Himself to bring about our salvation. The most beautiful of all is that he gave humanity a choice to love Him because He first loved us.
