Great Memorials of the New Testament
Text: Matthew 26:6-13
Introduction: Memorial Day, also called Decoration Day, honors U. S. citizens who have died in war. It originally commemorated soldiers killed in the Civil War. Following WWI it was extended to all United States war dead. National observance is marked by the placing of a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The custom of honoring the graves of the war dead began before the close of the Civil War. In the South, the town of Columbus, Mississippi claims to be the origination of this formal observance for both the Union and Confederate Armies in 1866. In the North, Waterloo, N. Y. is cited as the birthplace the same year. There was no fixed day of national observance, however, until 1868, when Commander in Chief John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic issued a general order designating May 30, 1868 for the "purpose of strewing with flowers the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion." How can we remember the war dead?
· Wear a red poppy to honor those who gave their lives during wartime. (In 1915, inspired by the poem "In Flanders Fields," Moina Michael replied with her own poem: "We cherish too, the Poppy redthat grows on fields where valor led, It seems to signal to the skies that blood of heroes never dies."
· At 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day, pause for a prayer or listen to "Taps"
· Visit cemeteries and place flags or flowers on the graves of veterans for Memorial Day · Visit a war memorial
· Attend a Memorial Day parade to honor fallen heroes
Celebrating Memorial Day assumes that we understand the purpose of a memorial.
The dictionary says it is something that serves to preserve remembrance. A memorial can be a special day, an event or even a building (i.e. The Lincoln Memorial etc.) that helps us to remember. Most of the memorials with which we’re familiar help us to focus on the accomplishments of men and women, but the Bible has its share of memorials that help us consider the glory and works of God.
· Genesis 9 tells us that the rainbow is God’s memorial to remind us that He will never again judge the earth by flood.
· Jacob set up a memorial at Bethel (See Genesis 28:18). It was the stone he used to pillow his head before his dream of a ladder reaching down from heaven. It reminded Jacob that God intended to fulfill the promise He made to his grandfather, Abraham.
· Jewish men wore memorials on their garments (tassels with cords of blue) to remind them of God’s commandments (See Numbers 15:37-39).
· The Passover was a memorial ceremony that served to remind the Jews of God’s deliverance from the bondage of the Egyptians through the plague of the death of the firstborn male (See Exodus 12:14 NAS).
The New Testament also mentions some memorials, which serve as important reminders of spiritual realities. Let’s consider together three of these this morning.
I. Memorial #1 - In Memory of One’s Love for Christ (See Matthew 26:6-13). In the latter part of Matthew, the readers are forced to acknowledge the failure of every one of the male disciples to stand with their Lord in a time of testing (See Matthew 26:56). What we discover is that it is their female counterparts that show love for Christ by their willingness to identify with Him (See Matthew 27:55,56,61: 28:1). Such is the case in this story. A woman whom John reveals as Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, anoints Christ with nard, an expensive perfume likely imported from India, in preparation for what was to come. Here are a couple of thoughts about her demonstration of sacrificial love:
A. It was a good deed. The words translated "a beautiful thing" in the NIV are actually the phrase "a good work." The disciples were supposed to let their good works shine (See Matthew 5:16); yet this woman is the only one commended by Christ for a good work. Why was it considered good? It was done, not to benefit herself (See Matthew 6:1ff; John 12:4), but to honor Christ.
B. It was a costly deed. People often stored their most expensive ointments in alabaster bottles, which were semitransparent and resembled marble. They would seal the contents to prevent evaporation, requiring that the long neck of the jar be broken and the ointment expended all at once. Because this was considered a very extravagant act of love and devotion, it was usually done only at the death of loved ones. Some suggest that, given the expense, such possessions might even have been considered family heirlooms passed from one generation to another.
Application: Christ is so touched by the love and devotion of Mary that He honors her by proclaiming that her act would henceforth be preserved as a part of the passion story. We know this happened by virtue of the fact that this incident is mentioned in the Gospels, recorded several years after Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. She loved her Lord with an extravagant love. Some people love other things in a similar way. Ronald Warwick, captain of the luxury cruise ship, the Queen Elizabeth II, questioned a passenger who paid full fare for his dog to join him on an around-the-world cruise at a minimum of $25,000. "Wouldn’t it have cost less to leave him at home?" the captain asked. "Oh, no," the man said. "When we’re away a long time, the dog’s psychiatrist fees are so high, it’s less expensive to bring him along." A costly deed--yes. A good deed--no.
II. Memorial #2 - In Memory of the Death of Christ (See 1 Corinthians 11:23-26). When we take the bread and the cup we are told to do so in remembrance of Christ, and so communion becomes for us a kind of memorial.
A. We remember that He died (See 1 Corinthians 15:3,4). This is fundamental to the Gospel message. The Son of God became the Son of Man and gave His life for us.
B. We remember why He died (See Isaiah 53:6; 1 Peter 2:24). Christ died for our sins. He was our substitute, paying the debt we could not pay.
C. We remember how He died.
1. Christ voluntarily offered Himself in payment for our sin. No one took His life. He gave it freely (See Matthew 26:52-54).
2. Christ knowingly offered Himself in payment for sin. The cross was no surprise (See Matthew 26:52-54).
3. Christ humbly offered Himself in payment for our sin. The fact that the Son of God died at all is a tremendous demonstration of humility...that He died on a cross is almost beyond comprehension (See Philippians 2:8).
Application: Roland Allen tells about a veteran missionary who came up to him one day after he had delivered his sermon. The missionary introduced himself and said, "I was a medical missionary for many years in India. And I served in a region where there was progressive blindness. People were born with healthy vision, but there was something in that area that caused people to lose their sight as they matured." But this missionary had developed a process that would arrest progressive blindness. So people came to him, and he performed his operation. They would leave realizing that they had been spared a life of blindness because of this missionary. He said that they never said, "Thank you," because that phrase was not in their dialect. Instead, they spoke a word that meant, "I will tell your name." Wherever they went, they would tell the name of the missionary who had cured their blindness. They had received something so wonderful that they memorialized the man by proclaiming his name to any they met. Communion is similarly a way to memorialize the most important event in human history-- the event that saves us from a life of spiritual blindness. And when we take these elements, we ’Tell of His name’ and proclaim our gratitude for being saved from the penalty and power of sin.
III. Memorial #3 - In Memory of the Triumph of Christ (See Acts 20:7-11). Early Christians began meeting together on the first day of the week for corporate worship. They did this in spite of the fact that it was not a weekly holiday as it is for most of us today. It also did not serve as a substitute for the Sabbath. The reason why the early church established a new day of worship was that Sunday was the day of the Lord’s resurrection. He not only arose on Sunday, but six post-resurrection appearances were on Sunday and the Day of Pentecost fell on a Sunday. It is called the Lord’s Day in Revelation 1:10. Two early quotes from the church fathers confirm this Sunday gathering: "On the Lord’s Day we meet and break bread," (The Didache, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles); Ignatius of Antioch describes Christians as "no longer living for the Sabbath, but for the Lord’s Day." For Christians it memorializes the greatest event in history. It is the day we come together to: (1) celebrate that He has risen; (2) worship corporately (See Hebrews 10:25); (3) give to the Lord’s work (See 1 Corinthians 16:2) and (4) observe the Lord’s Supper (See Acts 20:7).
Application: Which brings to mind a strong caution for those who would neglect the Lord’s Day. The early church saw this day as one that was holy (set apart) to the Lord. They chose to refrain from secular activities that would prevent them from coming together for corporate fellowship and worship. Even in America, for generations we had "blue laws" which prohibited businesses from being open on Sundays so that Christians could worship together. As our respect for the Lord’s Day diminishes, we should not be surprised at the same decline on the part of our culture. Why would they value the worship of Christ when more than half the church does not?
Conclusion: This past week I read in the newspaper that Moslems were very upset at the handling of the Koran by the some of the guards in the refugee camps that are holding Islamic fundamentalists regarded as a threat to national security. It was alleged that a Koran was flushed down the toilet, something the Pentagon adamantly denies. Said on person, “This is all about physically and mentally abusing prisoners, which is what this is all about — taking something very sacred to people and desecrating it." Of course the entire Islamic world along with the American Civil Liberties Union is up in arms over these actions. An investigation is under way.
It doesn’t seem like anyone has to worry about how Christians are responding to insensitivities on the part of our society to our worship of God. If the truth is to be told, we don’t seem to mind at all. We are ready and willing to forsake the assembling together in order to play baseball or go for a drive in the park. Have we forgotten that Sunday is the Lord’s Day? It is meant to remind us of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that He has conquered death and sin and that, in Him, we can too.
