Matthew 20:17-19
“The Test of His Courage”
By: Rev. Kenneth E. Sauer,
Pastor of Parkview united Methodist Church, Newport News, VA
www.parkview-umc.org
There are, at least, two kinds of courage.
There is the courage that is a kind of instinctive reaction…
…it’s like a reflex action…
…it’s the kind of courage of those who are confronted—out of the blue—with some crisis to which they instinctively react, without much--if any--time to think.
It’s kind of like suddenly jumping in front of a train in order to push another person out of the way.
It’s an act of great courage….of great bravery in the heat of the moment, and many folks have displayed this kind of courage.
Another kind of courage is the courage of those who see the train approaching far, far ahead of time… …who have plenty of time to turn back, who could, if they chose to do so evade the situation altogether…and who still go on despite knowing what they will face…
…having lots of time to think about it…
…to let it sink in.
Many would say, and I would have to agree with them, that it is far more courageous to deliberately face the future…knowing that you could turn back…but deciding that you will not—no matter what personal sacrifice you yourself will have to face.
And that is the kind of courage that Jesus Christ showed as the picture became ever more clear what our redemption would cost Him!
“Greater love has no one than this,” Jesus tells us in John Chapter 15, “that he lay down his life for his friends.”
And so, with this ultimate love in mind, the Man from Galilee faced Jerusalem…and headed toward Jerusalem knowing that this meant suffering to endth degree in heart, mind, body and soul for the salvation of those who would believe!
“We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law.
They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified.”
Now, Jesus could have gone back to Galilee instead of to Jerusalem.
He could have chosen safety, with many long years of teaching…He may even have been able to get tenure at a prestigious university.
And the safe choice certainly would have been justified.
Who could blame Him?
Isn’t this the kind of choice that most of us make each and every day?
Do not most of us choose to take the easy path over the difficult path?
Don’t we seek safety and security over danger and sacrifice?
Here in Matthew Chapter 20 Jesus predicts His death, but this is not the first time He has done this.
Remember back in chapter 16 that when Jesus told His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem where He would suffer terribly and be killed and then raised to life on the third day “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ‘Never Lord!’ he said. ‘This shall never happen to you!’
Then Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me Satan! …you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.’” ?
Like Peter, many of us enjoy declaring that Jesus is the Christ on Sunday mornings, but we don’t really like the truth of what that means!
Because we don’t live into what that means.
If Jesus had in mind the things of men or of humanity…He would not have had the courage, nor the selfless motivation to face every kind of physical and emotional and mental suffering that this world could inflict upon another.
And this is exactly what Jesus deliberately chose to face, simply for the salvation of you and of me and of all who will believe.
He would be betrayed into the hands of the chief priests and scribes, and thus face the suffering of a broken heart…
…a broken heart smashed to bits by the disloyalty of friends.
He would be condemned to death and face the suffering of the most horrible kind of injustice.
With our current and increasing knowledge of DNA we often hear of folks who have been sentenced to death or to life in prison—falsely.
They did not commit the crime.
They may have served 5, 10, 15, 20 years or more and we are in awe of what they had to endure.
Some have faced the death penalty and then have been spared at the last moment because new scientific evidence has proven that they did not commit the crime.
Still, they paid a price.
Well, Jesus was completely innocent of all sin, and yet, He deliberately paid the ultimate price for the sins of us all!!!
It is very hard to bear the suffering of injustice, but this is one of the many things Jesus courageously faced as He deliberately went up to Jerusalem to die.
Jesus also was going to be mocked and flogged.
Few tortures in the world can compare with a Roman flogging.
Jesus knew the physical pain that He would have to endure…
…and He knew that He would be crucified.
He would die a horribly lonely, painful, and slow agonizing death.
Yet, He faced all this because He came into this world “to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus willingly and deliberately and courageously faced death in order to save those who would believe, and He said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”
Jesus courageously chose the Cross over a long life.
Jesus courageously chose to lose His life on this earth in order to save the lives of those who would trust in Him.
And of course, Jesus had the confidence that He would be raised to life eternal…which He was, which He was.
How many of us, here tonight, have the confidence that God will raise us up to life eternal?
How many of us have decided to trust in the courageous act of Jesus Christ?
To trust in His mercy and grace.
To take up our Cross, deny ourselves, and follow Jesus?
Jesus didn’t promise that life would be easy for those who decide to follow Him, but He did promise a peace which transcends all understanding and an eternal glory that makes everything else pale in comparison.
In Mark’s Gospel we are told that as Jesus led the way up to Jerusalem those who followed Him were afraid.
They were afraid, and yet they followed.
I would say that that is pretty courageous, wouldn’t you?
How many of us are willing to follow Jesus, although it makes us afraid for our physical well-being, our status in the community, our reputations?
How many of us are following the Great Commission of Jesus Christ, the thing He told all of us to do: “Go and make disciples of all nations…”
How many of us prefer to have an idea of discipleship that leaves the Cross out of it?
That way, we can get on with our worldly ways and be Christian at the same time.
We can have our cake and eat it too.
We can be Christian without being courageous.
Without the Cross, Christianity can easily degenerate into what Paul warned Timothy about: “A form of godliness” that denies God’s “power.”
And yet, so many of us consciously take the Cross out of our Christianity.
Jesus spoke plainly about the cost of following Him, but so often we don’t take Him seriously.
Instead we often mumble His words and slur them over.
So often discipleship has been presented as something that doesn’t matter very much…
…and the world is able to see through this!!!
When discipleship is presented as something that doesn’t matter very much then coming to church is presented to the world as something that doesn’t matter very much.
And within the Church inviting others to join us at church is presented as something that doesn’t matter very much.
Our faith gets watered-down, overlooked, ignored…
…and we sit and wonder why?
How many of us claim to be Christians without ever living into it…without ever losing our worldly lives in order to find real life in following Christ?
The word “Cross” is a difficult word to face, and it has certainly been one of the most misused words in the entire vocabulary of Christianity.
We often speak of sorrow or loss as a Cross.
These things are horrible heavy burdens, but they are not a Cross.
Some of us might speak of our own shortcomings, our uncontrolled anger, our tendency to be overly sensitive, our impatience, as a cross we must carry.
We can even become quite pious about it.
But taking up the Cross of Christ does not mean stoically enduring what happens to us.
The Cross, for Jesus, was His deliberate choice to give His life as a ransom for you and for me and for the persons around us—no matter what the cost!
And taking up a Cross for a Christian means taking up Christ’s Cross…not our cross!!!
It is our deliberate choice to take up something that could be evaded.
It is our deliberate choice to take up a burden that we are under no compulsion to take up—except for the compulsion of God’s love in Christ.
It is our deliberate choice to be involved in what God is compelling us to do.
It means following Jesus.
It means suffering.
It means danger.
And it takes courage.
And Luke tells us that we are to do this “daily.”
When was the last time you invited a co-worker, a classmate, a friend, a neighbor to come to church with you?
When was the last time you invited a stranger in the line at a grocery store or at a busy restaurant to join you at church?
If you do this regularly, that’s fantastic!
If you never do this, what is holding you back?
Is your church already too full?
Or does it make you feel uneasy?
Does it make you afraid?
Would it take courage that you aren’t willing to exert?
Our communities are filled with folks, both young and old, who do not have a church home…
…who do not know what it means to have a life-changing and life-saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ had the courage to face the most awful of deaths in order that those persons would turn to Him, believe in Him, and find eternal life in Him!
Do we have the courage to tell them about what He has done?
Do we have the courage to tell others about the courage of Christ?
Do we have the courage to tell others about the love of Christ?
Do we have the courage to do (at the very least) what Christ has called us to do?
Jesus Christ, God become Flesh, so loved the world that He courageously faced the grim mission to Jerusalem.
Jesus Christ, God become Flesh, so loved you and me and everyone else, that He courageously faced the horror of what He knew lay ahead.
Could He have taken or chosen to take another way?
Could He have left the Cross out of it?
He had free-will, so I suppose He could have.
Of course, in leaving the Cross out of the equation there would be no way for you, for me, or for anybody to be saved!!!
Jesus passed the test of His Courage.
The test of our courage is whether we are going to follow Him and truly be His disciples…and in doing so, find life—real, free, selfless life to the full!!!
Let us pray: Holy God, so often we allow our own self-interests and our own pettiness get in the way of Your saving message and Your service to others. Forgive us we pray. And in these times, give us the will to resist temptation, take up the Cross of Christ, and lose ourselves in service of others and follow You. In Jesus’ name and for His sake we pray. Amen.
