During the season of lent we’ve been talking about our Unstoppable God and we've been following Jesus on his road to the cross and marveling at all of the ways that he is unstoppable. When Jesus sets off on his path toward the cross no one could stop him, even when they told him he was crazy, even when they told him he would die he wouldn’t stop. When he comes across sickness, he shows his unstoppable power to heal. When he comes across sin, he shows his unstoppable forgiveness. In the darkness he shines unstoppable light. And last week we watched as Jesus rode into town on a donkey because he is just that unstoppable. He doesn’t need an army, he doesn’t need a sword, he doesn’t need a mighty steed. Himself, a donkey, and some palm branches will do just fine, the king has come and no one could stop it. Even at the end of our reading last week the Pharisees, Jesus’ biggest enemies, said it, ‘See, everything we have done has gotten us nowhere, the whole world has gone after him.” The guy is unstoppable.
So hopefully we’ve all come to the conclusion that Jesus is indeed unstoppable. Everybody say it for me “Jesus is unstoppable”…. Yes he is. But here’s the question that we’ve gotta deal with today. What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? Because that’s what sin is isn’t it? And I’m not being philosophical here, how many times have you made an effort to not sin? How many times have you tried to fight it, how many times have you gotten a crowbar and done everything you possibly could to remove sin from your life only to find that it will not budge? It’s immovable. Oh sure you can avoid it from time to time, you can step around it and put up caution tape and say to yourself “Do not go there.” But it’s still there isn’t it? It will not move, and every time you have a moment of weakness, every time you have just a moment of temptation you go back to it. Sin is like an immovable object in all of our lives.
In fact sin is so immovable that we’ve kinda gotten used to it being around, a lot of us treat it like a pet. Yah you and I have come to like it. And sin is not an immovable object just because we can’t move it, it’s an immovable object because we don’t want to. We like, we defend it, we’ll even call it not sin. We’ll hear God’s commands and we’ll take them and bend them around so our sin is still ok, so our sin can stay because we don’t want to move it. My personal favorite example of this is the one where the guys say, God you tell me to honor the Sabbath day, you command me to go to church but I’ll show you. I can worship anywhere, I can worship in the woods, I can worship on a fishing boat, I never do but I could. Actually I’ve heard that one so many times that I decided to give it a try. I was out in the woods, and I started to think about God but then I thought I saw a rabbit. And then I started to pray and thank God for this creation that I was walking around in and I heard thunder in the distance and thought, man God is powerful, and the next thing I know the only thing going through my head is Thunderstruck by AC/DC. You try and worship God in the woods when you hear thunder in the distance and there’s a voice in your head going (a-wah-a-whaaa-aa-waaa). Yes in theory, you can worship god in the woods you just don’t. Sorry fellas I’m calling you out. In fact I’m calling us all out today. Because every one of us has done this, every one of us has tried to defend our sin. Every one of us has tried to think of ways that our sin might possibly be kinda sorta ok, because we don’t want to move it. Because we want it to remain an immovable object. So we’ve given up on challenging or changing our sin, it’s not going to move, so we challenge God instead. We challenge him at every turn, we reject him with every breath, we’re always pushing away, always running the opposite direction, always struggling with everything we have in us to do the opposite of whatever he says. Jesus may be an unstoppable force but the truth is in us he’s going up against an immovable object.
And I tell you the truth brothers and sisters in Christ that’s exactly what happened on good Friday. On good Friday we found out what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. Because Jesus would not stop. He would not stop healing people, he would not stop forgiving sin, he would not stop bringing light into the darkness and mankind hated him for it. Jesus stop. We’ve tried this and it doesn’t work. Jesus, stop. This sin is part of me now and you’re not just threatening to destroy sin you’re threatening to destroy me. Jesus if you don’t stop you’re going to see what sin can really do. But he wouldn’t stop. So we said “Fine If he refuses to stop then we’ll throw our worst at him. If he refuses to stop we’ll unleash all that we are. If he can forgive sin then let’s unleash sin on him. If he can heal pain, we’ll show him what pain is. If he can make the lame walk we’ll drive nails through his feet and see how he does. If he can raise the dead let’s see him raise himself. If Jesus is an unstoppable force then let’s see what happens when he meets up with an immovable object.
We found out on good Friday. The unstoppable force of Jesus met the immovable object of our sin. And our sin did what it always does. It didn’t budge. It wouldn’t move. All of our sin was laid upon Jesus on that cross and you know what happened to him? He died. It did to him what it does to us. And that’s the answer to the paradox isn’t it? That’s why this question is a paradox because it’s a ridiculous question. If there is an unstoppable force there can’t be an immovable object. Or it there is an immoveable object then there can’t be an unstoppable force. The two cannot exist together and if so when these two meet one of them is revealed as the victor. And the question is answered on the cross as Everyone walks away shaking their heads saying that’s it I guess he wasn’t so unstoppable after all.
And we walk away shaking our heads too. We hear what Jesus did we hear about his power and we hear about him taking on our sin on the cross and we respond by shaking our heads. Yah Jesus might be able to handle some peoples sin but he can’t handle mine. HE doesn’t understand just how big it really is. My sin has overtaken my life, it’s become so much a part of everything that I am that I don’t think I can ever be rid of it. Jesus you don’t understand how bad it is. Jesus you don’t understand how big it is. Jesus you’re not getting that I have tried everything to remove this thing from my life but it will not budge and if you try to take it on it’s going to do to you what it did to me. And we look at the cross and say see, God himself could not fix what I did.
And brothers and sisters in Christ I would completely agree with you because all of this is absolutely true, until easter happened. I want you to look at the cross today and realize that on that cross humanity threw everything it had at Jesus. The worst of our sin, the blackest pit of our darkness, the crippling reality of our pain, we threw all of it at Jesus. And he still came back from the dead. For Christ is risen!!! (He is risen indeed, Alleluia!) My friends this is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. When those two things meet one of them is revealed to be less than what it claims to be and on easter morning we find out that our sin is not what it claims to be. All of those times that we have believed it was too big, all of those times that we have believed that it was too bad, all of those times that it has whispered in our ears that we will never be rid of it, all of those lies were ripped to shreds when our unstoppable God rose from the dead. I’m not messing around when I tell you that you’re sins are not too big for Jesus to handle because every one of them was laid on Jesus on that cross and he still rose from the dead. It’s like we confessed at the beginning of the service. Death could not hold him because he cannot be held, the stone was rolled away because he cannot be contained, and the tomb is empty because he cannot be stopped. So here’s your gospel, here’s your good news Christ is risen!!! (he is risen indeed alleluia.) And he’s risen because your sin could not stop him. HE is unstoppable.
When you walk out of here today, the next time you bump into your sin, the next time you remember it, the next time it tempts you, the next time it whispers in your ear that you will never be rid of it; do me a favor, Punch it in the face and wish it a happy easter. Because whatever it’s done in your life your sin is not what it claims to be, easter is the proof, Nothing stops Jesus. Happy easter…AMEN
