Illus: I was about 10 years old at the time. My mother had been remarried for about a year and a half. Both she and my step-father worked, and it was summer. We children needed a baby-sitter. So my step-father arranged for his mother to sit us~~our Aunt Betty. I know what some of you are wondering. Step-father’s mother...your ’Aunt Betty?’ Wouldn’t she be your step=grandma? You’d think so, but Aunt Betty kinda thought otherwise. You see, she didn’t want us calling her grandma. Was it because you were step children? No, not at all. Aunt Betty had an age hang up. She didn’t want people to think that she had a grandchild that was as old as I was. And in truth, it went way back before me. When my step-father was a teen (he was largely raised by his grandparents because Aunt Betty had been married 5 or 6 different times), at public gatherings Aunt Betty made my step-father call her ’sis’ instead of mom! She didn’t want all the available men knowing that she had a teen age son. Ol’ Aunt Betty had an age hang up. Well, back to our story. With Aunt Betty was her youngest child, Todd. Todd was a year younger than I was and her most beloved child; in her eyes, he could do no wrong. And while we played together well for the most part, he was indeed quite troublesome. I remember that one day, he quite cruelly provoked me, and to keep me from pummelling him, I pushed him out of my face. Well, Aunt Betty saw this. And the way she jumped all over me, you’d have thought that she was a Grizzly Bear and I was attacking one of her cubs. When she finally stopped her endless tirade against me, I protested. ’Look,’ I said, ’He started it! It’s HIS fault!’ And Todd never denied it. But I’ll never forget what she said to me. She looked me straight in the eye and said, ’I don’t care!’ She was gonna take her precious son’s side no matter how wrong he was. It was then and there that I learned how hard it is for people to be impartial and objective. As a side note, you might be interested to know that at a huge public gathering just a few weeks later, I called her Grandma Betty...accidently, of course.
--But it is hard for us to be objective and unbiased. In fact, it is quite natural for us to be totally disposed to our own position, reality and perspectives. It is natural to be personally biased.
--With this reality in mind, how is it that an all holy God is able to connect with and understand sinful man? How can finite man truly connect with an infinite God?
I-Passage One
--Our 1st text is quintessential for our subject matter today~~Jesus as Mediator: 1 Tim. 2:3-7.
--That word ’mediator’ is actually a bit rare in the NT. It is used only 6 times in the entire NT, and its use in our text is a bit...emphatic. More so than the other occurances.
--2 of the 6 occurances are found in Gal. 3:19-20 (read text). Here it carries the idea simply of a representative: One who does represent both sides. Our passage has that idea as well, only with a bit more depth and substance.
--3 times the word is used in Hebrews, and it is used consistently the same way. Heb. 8:6 is a good example of how it’s used (read text). Here it is a contractual term. The ’mediator’ is actually more like a ’guarantor.’ He is one who legally secures and validates the covenant or contractual agreement. In Hebrews, many think that the word should be translated ’guarantor.’
--But the word in 1 Tim is actually the most graphic use and the most faithful to the full meaning of the word. Here the idea is more than just a ’representative,’ but of a ’go-between, a true mediator.’ One who brings peace to a severed relationship.
--Two parties are at odds, at war. Someone must bring them together. Someone must bridge the gap. Someone must reestablish peace. Who is that someone? The Mediator.
--And what enables Jesus to be a truly effective mediator? He has both natures of the parties involved! He understands both parties and does so experientially!
--We all want, even need to be understood, don’t we. Sadly, that isn’t always possible or attainable.
--Illus: I heard a story. Years ago at construction sites, they would mark the work site with smudge pots. In them burned open flames, and they burned hotter than normal. One day, a wife and her little girl visited the work site to see dad/husband and bring him his lunch. Accidently, the little girl’s pant legs caught fire with the smudge pots and burned like straw. The result was surgery and terrible scarring all over her legs. When she was older, she was asked by a teacher in a class room assignment, ’If you could have one wish, what would it be?’ Her answer, ’I wish everyone had legs just like mine.’ What was she asking for? Many things, but she wanted understanding. I want people to know my pain...walk in my shoes...I want them understand me, I want empathy.
--I have always believed that empathy is a most sacred gift and blessing. And it comes only one way~~thru shared experience.
--An exceptional Dr. was once asked, ’What one thing made you such a good Dr.?’ His answer? ’It was when I became a patient myself!’ Makes sense, doesn’t it. Once he became a patient, he could empathize.
--Jesus is THE perfect mediator. He has experienced both natures. He understand BY EXPERIENCE both the human and divine perspective.
II-Passage Two
--Let us look at this divine perspecive for a bit. Is Jesus God. He was, is and will be God! As God, he understand what it is like to be God; he understands the divine perspective. He is indeed truly transcendent.
--And I think no passage better exemplifies this than our 2nd reading, Jn. 14:6 (read text). This passage scandalizes many. Why? ’You mean to tell me that it’s Jesus or nothing? That salvation is found in no one else?’ Yes! ’I can’t accept that!’ That, my friend, is part of the scandal of Christ and the scandal of the cross. And if you can’t accept the scandal of Christ and his cross, you can’t accept Christ. They come as a package deal!
--You see, Christ is a stumbling block to many. Remember his words to John the Baptist? "Blessed is he who does not fall away on account of me (Mt. 11:6)." That means that Jesus’ truth might just be too much for some to accept.
--Remember the story of Jn. 6? Jesus tells the people that he is ’the bread of life,’ i.e. that life is found ONLY in him. And then he gives them a teaching (in the CJ paraphrase) ’unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you.’ And what did the people do? ’This is ludicrous! Too much! Who can keep this!’ And they left and stoped following him.
--Jesus is not, nor never will be politically correct! His truth can offend and scandalize, and if you can’t embrace his scandal, then you can’t embrace him!
--And all of this led me to consider something else. Do you ever think that at times, either effectually or actually, we forget that Jesus is God?
--As a preacher, I have always sought to emphasize the human side of Jesus, and I think I have been right in that attempt. Furthermore, that is where so much of the comfort is found.
--But he is God! And as God, does he have the same divine distaste for sin? The same zeal for holiness? The same anger against oppression and injustice?
--You see, the reason no one comes to the Father except thru his is PRECISELY BECAUSE he is THE way, THE, truth, and THE life. His is more than just a cool guy, and good man, and a good teacher. He is the IDEAL man. THE teacher. He IS God! This does bear witness to the otherworldliness and true transcendence of Jesus.
--And you know what? Oddly enough, there is comfort in this, too. You ask, ’How so?’
--Illus: The old story is told about a man who was arrested for being a horse thief. When brought before the judge for his arraignment, the judge asked him, ’What is your plea?’ The accused said, ’Not guilty, of course.’ Then the judge asked him, ’Do you want a trial by judge, or one by a jury of your peers?’ The accused was a simple man, so he asked the judge, ’Jury of my peers? What are peers?’ The judge replied, ’Peers are people just like you.’ The accused shot back, ’Just like me?! I don’t wanna be judged by a bunch of horse thieves.’ You see, he didn’t want someone....just like him. And you know what? Sometimes I don’t, either!
--I am biased. I don’t see the big picture like I ought to. I’m flawed, and I can’t save myself. If all this is true, why would I want someone ’just like me?’ Because if Jesus is ’just like me,’ then how can he save me? He can’t even save himself!
--There is a lot of comfort found in Heb. 4:14-15 (read). But do you think that the ’yet without sin’ is just a small addendum to that text, or is there power there? Not only is there power, but authority, too! I love Jude 24-25~~ ’To him who is able to keep you from falling, and to present you before his glorious throne without spot or blemish...’ What makes ’him able?’ 2 Things: one, he was raised from the dead, and 2, he lived a perfectly sinless life. And these are connected. Why was he raised from the dead? Because he did not sin, and death could not keep hold over him! Yes, there is comfort in this....otherworldliness and transcendence of Jesus. I need someone...stronger than I am.
III-Passage Three
--But let’s be honest. It is the human side that gives us the most comfort, and rightly so.
--It’s not enough for Jesus to be ’otherworldly.’ Why? Because I live in THIS world! This world is where all of my problems are. All of my struggles, etc.
--That is really where and why our 3rd reading gives us such comfort. 1 Jn2:1-2 (read text).
--Make no mistake. There is a gap. How can we who are finite touch the infinite? Or look at it from God’s perspective. How can the ageless and tireless understand this world and all the muck that comes along with it?
--Illus: Dr. Maxwell Maltz is a plastic surgeon. He tells a moving story about an encounter he had. A man had been badly burned in an attempt to rescue his older parents from their burning home. He failed, and they perished. In his attempt, he himself got horribly scarred from the flames, and he saw those scars as divine chastisement for his failure. As a result, he withdrew from everyone~~including his wife. His wife went to Dr. Maltz for help. He told her, ’I can help him; I can restore his face.’ But she was still unenthused. He refused help before, and she knew he’d refuse it again. So she asked, ’What I’d like you to do is surgically disfigure my face. Maybe if I can become just like him, he’ll open himself up to me and love me again.’ Maltz was both moved and shocked. His oath as a Dr. just would not allow him to honor this request, but he could not help but be moved by her entreaty. So he went to the house to try to reason with her husband. Thru the bedroom door, he pleaded with her husband. ’I am a plastic surgeon, and I can help you. Will you please come out.’ No response. ’Please come out and let me help you.’ Again, no response. Then the Dr. told him, ’Do you know that your wife wants me to disfigure her face? She thinks that by making her face just like yours, maybe you’l accept her and let her back into your life. That is how much she loves you!’ With those words, the door knob turned, and he came out. That’s love, isn’t it.
--Yet, do you realize what she was willing to do....God did? "The word became flesh, and made his dwelling amongst us, full of grace and truth, and we beheld his glory...."
--God said, ’I will live as a human. I will ache as a human. I will know human hunger, and longing. I will feel the pain of rejection. I will endure the ache of a given love unreceived. And I will know the pangs and lure of temptation. I will take on flesh! I will connect with my creation...because I love them.’
--If Jesus is not God, we cannot truly connect with divine transcendence. If he is not human, he does not connect with humanity experientially.
--The full humanity and deity of Jesus Christ is more than just textbook systematic theology. It is the substance, the hope, and the proof of our salvation. Praise God that Jesus IS fully divine. And fully human. Let the church say, ’Amen.’
