Come to Your Senses: Luke 22:14-20
Once there was a man who dared God to speak. Burn the bush like you did for Moses, God. And I will follow you. Collapse the walls like you did for Joshua, God. And I will fight for you. Still the waves like you did on Galilee, God. And I will listen to you.
And so the man sat by a bush, near a wall, close to the sea and waited for God to speak. God heard the man, so God answered. He sent fire, not for a bush, but for a people who loved God and loved people. He brought down a wall, not of brick, but of pain, discord and sin. He stilled a raging storm, not of the sea, but of a soul.
And God waited for the man to respond. And He waited … And He waited … And He waited.
But because the man was looking at bushes, and not hearts; bricks and not lives, stormy seas and not souls, he decided that God had done nothing. Finally he looked to God and asked have you lost your power? And God looked at the man and asked have you lost your senses?
Let’s pray. O God, bring us to our senses today and purify them. Cause us to remember your Son Jesus … who paid a debt that wasn’t His for a people who couldn’t pay. Amen.
There are particular sounds that when we hear them, seem to take us away to another time … another place. Let me give you an example … a couple of weeks ago I spent the night at my parent’s home … I awoke at about 5:30 in the morning to the sound of the birds singing in the old oak tree …
• For a moment, my senses were alive and I could remember that room as though it were 35 years ago when my brothers and I shared it … I remembered …
o The song of the birds and the creaking of the old bed … HEAR IT. The aroma of the new leaves on the old oak tree … SMELL IT. The textures of the itchy woollen blanket … FEEL IT. The sour pucker from the morning glass of Grapefruit Juice … TASTE IT. The beam of sunlight that used to peak through the curtains and dance on the five colour striped wallpaper … SEE IT
o Now of course, your bedroom wasn’t like mine and your memories won’t be the same either but isn’t it marvellous how a sound or a scent or a taste can whisk us away to another place and cause … even sometimes force us to remember
Pleasant events … and painful events … today, Jesus’ message to us is this …
• COME TO YOUR SENSES AND REMEMBER
I. Can you hear it?
Listen with me to the angel’s shout … A SAVIOUR IS BORN. HE IS CHRIST THE LORD. HE WILL SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS. Hear the joy and the tears from the people who Jesus touched and healed. Hear the lightning and thunder … and then the calm gentle lapping of the water on the lake when Jesus calmed the storm. Do you hear the crowds cheer that Jesus is the Messiah … “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord … O Lord in the highest, save us!” Listen to the joy and the excitement … perhaps like the triumph of the Hebrew people after they were freed from the slavery of Egypt … or perhaps it was like the cheer as the walls of Jericho came crashing down.
Listen to the prayer of Jesus in the garden called Gethsemane … “My Father, if possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not what I will but what you will.” Perhaps you hear the snoring of the disciples who Jesus asked to watch and pray. Listen to the crowds cry out … CRUCIFY HIM! CRUCIFY HIM! Hear the thieves on the crosses beside Jesus as they spoke abusively towards Him. And hear Jesus say, “Father, forgive them”.
II. Can you smell it?
Take a deep breathe in through your nostrils and smell the fresh air over the once stormy sea. Smell the fish and the loaves that were miraculously provided for the 4000 hungry people that came to Jesus to be taught. Be captured by the scent of the perfume used to anoint Jesus’ feet before He was crucified. Inhale the aroma of the Passover meal as it was prepared for the disciples. Imagine with me the stench of the disciple’s feet as Jesus bent down to wash them … even Judas’ feet. Cover your nose before you smell the sweat and blood mixture as Jesus prayed. And smell the smoke from the fire that Peter warmed himself by … and where he denied that he even knew Jesus. Smell the musty tomb where they laid Jesus’ dead body.
III. Can you feel it?
Touch the fresh, baby-like skin of the once leprous man. Feel the strength returning to the once crippled legs as they for the first time begin to run. Wince as you feel the leather straps rip the flesh of our Saviour as he took those stripes for you and for me. Feel the dust from the road where Jesus walked on the way to a crucifixion made for you. And feel the weight of the cold hard stone that they rolled in front of the grave to seal Jesus’ doom.
IV. Can you Taste it?
Savour the taste of the delicious wine at the wedding banquet. Enjoy the satisfaction of the simple meal of fish and bread after a long day with Jesus. Taste the salty rain from the windswept sea as it drips from your face. Enjoy the bitter herbs, the bread and the wine at that last Passover meal with Jesus. Lick the sweat that falls from your brow as you run from Jesus when He was taken into custody. And swallow gently because the dust at the foot of the cross is sticking the sides of your throat together.
V. Can you see it?
Look at the Angelic Messenger’s brightness piercing the night skies as they announce the birth of the Saviour. Look at the baby, wrapped up in strips of cloth and sleeping in a manger … with wise men and shepherds huddled in the cave. Can you see the lame man walking … the blind man seeing … the deaf man hearing … the hungry being fed … Lazarus coming out from the grave … the crowds cheering?
Can you see Jesus before His accusers? Look at Him standing there with deep, oozing wounds … barely able to stand after the flogging. Watch Him as he walks the road to the hill called “The Place of the Skull” and see Him as He stumbles under the weight of the cross. Hide your eyes as you see the nails pierce His innocent hands and feet. Gaze upon the precious, innocent blood falling from His side and landing in a pool in the dirt at the foot of the cross. Watch as He takes His last breathe and dies. See His disciples take His dead body and rap it again in cloths. Can you see your sin that caused His death?
Can you hear it … the sound of a mighty stone being rocked from its place in front of the tomb? Can you smell it … the fresh new life giving breath like the air after a terrible storm? Can you feel it … the nail pierced hands that pick you up and say, “You are a child of mine!” Can you taste it … the banquet prepared for those whose names are written in His book? And can you see it … the redemption that was paid in full on the cross and the victory over death in the empty tomb … for you?
Can you see it? Can you come to Your Senses and Remember?
<< READ LUKE 22:14-20 and ROMANS 5:8 >>
Come, not because you are strong but because you are weak. Come, not because your good works give you a right to come but because you need mercy and help. Come, because you love the Lord a little and would like to love Him more. Come, because the Lord loves you and gave Himself for you. Come because you have searched your heart and confessed your sin. Come, because you believe and you belong to God’s family.
This is the Lord’s Table, prepared for you, His people.
Come to your senses … and remember!
