"The Hour" -- sermon by wayne mclaughlin -- given at Leeds Presbyterian on March 21, 2021

“The Hour”

a sermon by Wayne McLaughlin

March 21 , 2021

Fifth Sunday of Lent

Leeds Presbyterian Church

Jeremiah 31.31-34 CEB

31 The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. 32 It won’t be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant with me even though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 No, this is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my Instructions within them and engrave them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 They will no longer need to teach each other to say, “Know the Lord!” because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord; for I will forgive their wrongdoing and never again remember their sins.

Hebrews 5.5-10 CEB

5 In the same way Christ also didn’t promote himself to become high priest. Instead, it was the one who said to him,

You are my Son.

        Today I have become your Father,

6 as he also says in another place,

You are a priest forever,

        according to the order of Melchizedek. 

7 During his days on earth, Christ offered prayers and requests with loud cries and tears as his sacrifices to the one who was able to save him from death. He was heard because of his godly devotion. 8 Although he was a Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered. 9 After he had been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for everyone who obeys him. 10 He was appointed by God to be a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

John 12.20-33 NRSV

20 Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

27 “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

SERMON TEXT:

The hour has come, says Jesus.

Only John’s Gospel uses this terminology—the Hour. Listen to these six instances:

1. John 2:4:  And Jesus said to [his mother], “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.

2. John 7:30: Then they tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come. 

3. John 8:20: He spoke these words while he was teaching in the treasury of the temple, but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

4. John 12.27: “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.

5. John 13:1: Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. 

6. John 17:1: After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you… 

The Hour. It sounds like Jesus has an appointment. He keeps saying, It’s not time for my appointment yet. 

People deal with time management in different ways. Some people keep their eyes on the clock; they’re always checking to see how much time they have before they need to take a shower or get dressed or brush their teeth before they have to take off for an appointment somewhere. They’re vigilant. Other people are lackadaisical. They don’t pay attention. They will look at the clock and say, Oh, my goodness, look what time it is! I’m going to be late! And sure enough, they’re late. They are always late. You tell them to start getting ready fifteen minutes earlier so as not to be late. But it doesn’t work. You can count on them—to be late. 

Jesus had an appointment in Jerusalem. He was always aware of it. But he never got in a hurry. No need to hurry. He kept telling people, My hour has not yet come. Until we get to today’s reading: John, chapter twelve. My hour has come, he says. 

Exorcism of the World

The Hour has come.

In today’s reading Jesus says: Now. Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be driven out.

That last phrase, “will be driven out,” sounds like what happened in the Garden of Eden. The snake tricked the man and the woman. They sinned. And they were driven out of Paradise. The snake stayed there. But now, says Jesus, the Snake will be driven out. Humanity, on the other hand, will be promised a place in Paradise. In Luke’s Gospel Jesus says to one of the crooks being crucified on either side of him: Today you will be with me in Paradise.

The Hour has come. The world will be judged. Christ’s death on the cross is a revelation of the evil present in the world. The one perfectly good person in history was put to death as a criminal and a heretic. Yet, evil was judged on that day. The death of Jesus was like a cosmic sponge, absorbing the toxic moral turpitude of the universe.

When we look at the Cross, we see court in session. We see the worst that evil can do to the best that God can be. We see evil on trial; we see the evidence of evil as an innocent man hangs on a cross. We see evil’s attempt to murder Truth. To murder God! But evil itself is judged and found guilty. The evidence was overwhelming. 

As the soldiers pounded the nails into his hands and feet, it was the sound of the Judge’s gavel pounding the desk, saying, “Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Evil is guilty of murdering God.

The Devil was run out of town. He was cast out. So many times we read of Jesus casting out demons from men and women. All through his ministry he was defeating the powers of evil and chaos. Now the Hour has come to cast out the Demon which has possessed the world. As he bled on the Cross, Christ exorcised the power of Evil to ultimately destroy God’s prized creation.

There is a Snake in the grass that has tried to resist the love of God by slowly and slyly slithering through cracks in the hearts of people who are full of greed and the lust for power—those who revel in dominating others. The Hour has come to cut off the head of the Snake. 

The Hour has come. Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be driven out.

Inclusive

Jesus continues: And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.

In our first reading from Jeremiah, God speaks of a future new covenant. And God says, “No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.”

That little word all appears in both readings. Jeremiah says, for they shall ALL know me. Jesus says, I will draw ALL people to myself.

This is a universal action of God. All people will know God. All people will be drawn to Christ.

The Hour has come to inaugurate the universally inclusive and liberating power of God through the tragedy of a death—a death authorized by the State and supported by the Religious Establishment. 

Lifted Up

In our Gospel Reading Jesus says, When I am lifted up… Like a good novelist, John has already planted a clue back in chapter three. When Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, he used the same phrase: lifted up. Right before John 3.16 – at 3.14 – Jesus says: 

Nicodemus, remember when Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness? Well, so must I be lifted up so that everyone who believes in me will have eternal life. God so loved the world that the Creator gave the Only Son that anyone who trusts their life to him will not perish like food left out too long, but will have eternal life. (my paraphrase)

Jesus becomes the Snake that is lifted up—the Saving Snake that brings healing for the soul when we gaze at it with faith.

Notice the phrase, I will draw all people to myself. The term “draw” also appears in John’s Gospel in earlier chapters. Listen to Jesus in chapter six:

No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. (Jn. 6.44)

So, the Cross has some kind of “drawing” power. When we gaze at the Cross of Christ, we are drawn by the love of God revealed there—drawn to the loving heart of God. It is as if a powerful magnetic field has been set up around the Cross. God’s grace is so magnetic that once we look up, we feel the power of God’s covenant love pulling us into the life of God, which is called eternal life.

God does not coerce us into the Kingdom. We make that decision of our own free will. Yet, paradoxically, we can’t do anything else. Because when you fall in love with another person it feels as if you have no choice in the matter; and yet, we do choose to give our lives to Christ. 

The “drawing” power of Christ’s death for us is the power of God’s grace.  

In the same way, we who are followers of Christ are not to try and manipulate others to become followers of Christ; rather, we draw people into God’s fellowship by our love. Our lives should be a magnetic field of love that gently invites others into the eternal life of God.

When I was young our church had revival meetings—one in the Spring and another in the Fall. The visiting evangelists were experts at telling heart-throbbing stories about people who had missed their opportunity to get right with God and ended up in hell. There was usually one story during the week about someone who was under conviction—almost ready to accept Jesus in their heart—but before they could get to church they were killed in a terrible automobile accident. Ohhh, if only they had made that decision. Now bow your heads and close your eyes…

Emotional manipulation does not “draw” people into the kingdom. It pushes them into a psychological trauma for a short time. Some get over it later, but are left with a faith that has no roots. Others spend their whole lives with a minor case of religiously created PTSD to deal with.

People aren’t argued into the kingdom. They aren’t coerced into it. They aren’t pushed into it. Only the love of Christ can draw us into the loving arms of God. 

Authentic evangelism is not manipulation. It is match-making. It is introducing a person to Christ and letting them date each other until they fall in love. God is in love with us. If we allow ourselves to get close enough to God, we will fall in love with God.

 

Appointment

The Hour of Jesus finally came. He had an appointment, and he kept it. He was on time.

Disappointment with life comes from not keeping the appointment with God. No appointment means disappointment. Life has no point without the spiritual dimension. We wander, lost, without a compass if God is not our magnetic North Pole. There is no point. Life is one long disappointment unless we keep our appointment with God.

The Hour came. Jesus kept his appointment. He was lifted up on the Cross. Now, when we gaze at the Cross, we don’t see a “mere symbol.” We feel an attraction. We experience the Cross as the Sacrament of eternal love which draws us into the very Heart of God. 

The Cross is the sign of the New Covenant spoken of by Jeremiah. Christ has been lifted up as our High Priest, as the Letter to the Hebrews tells us.

Christ was lifted up so that you and I can be lifted out of our sin and our fear of death—and lifted up into the arms of God, who will never let us go.

Something to Live For -- sermon by wayne mclaughlin -- February 28, 2021 -- Montevallo Presbyterian Church

“Something to Live For”

Wayne McLaughlin

February 28 , 2021 

Second Sunday of Lent

Montevallo Presbyterian Church

___________________

Hebrew Scripture Reading Genesis 17.1-7, 15-16                      (The Message)

17 1-2 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, God showed up and said to him, “I am The Strong God, live entirely before me, live to the hilt! I’ll make a covenant between us and I’ll give you a huge family.” 3-8 Overwhelmed, Abram fell flat on his face.

Then God said to him, “This is my covenant with you: You’ll be the father of many nations. Your name will no longer be Abram, but Abraham, meaning that ‘I’m making you the father of many nations.’ I’ll make you a father of fathers—I’ll make nations from you, kings will issue from you. I’m establishing my covenant between me and you, a covenant that includes your descendants, a covenant that goes on and on and on, a covenant that commits me to be your God and the God of your descendants. And I’m giving you and your descendants this land where you’re now just camping, this whole country of Canaan, to own forever. And I’ll be their God.”

15-16 God continued speaking to Abraham, “And Sarai your wife: Don’t call her Sarai any longer; call her Sarah. I’ll bless her—yes! I’ll give you a son by her! Oh, how I’ll bless her! Nations will come from her; kings of nations will come from her.”

The Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Psalm 22.23-31 (Wayne’s  retelling)

Let’s all give God a round of applause!

Come on—Baptists, Catholics, Presbyterians—

everybody! Hallelujah!

God doesn’t ignore the little people.

God genuinely cares about everyone who

suffers—even the animals.

Someday poor people will sit down and eat

as much as they like.

Someday our whole global village

will turn toward its Creator and pay attention.

The Holy One is the engine of the universe.

Even billionaires will fall on their faces

and worship the One who 

enriches us with grace.

Our children and their children will know

about the Source of spiritual power.

The story will be told to every generation

from now on.

The future-ones will know that

life is worth living because of

the Power of Love 

          whom we worship.

Epistle Reading Romans 4.13-25 (The Message)

13-15 That famous promise God gave Abraham—that he and his children would possess the earth—was not given because of something Abraham did or would do. It was based on God’s decision to put everything together for him, which Abraham then entered when he believed. If those who get what God gives them only get it by doing everything they are told to do and filling out all the right forms properly signed, that eliminates personal trust completely and turns the promise into an ironclad contract! That’s not a holy promise; that’s a business deal. A contract drawn up by a hard-nosed lawyer and with plenty of fine print only makes sure that you will never be able to collect. But if there is no contract in the first place, simply a promise—and God’s promise at that—you can’t break it.

16 This is why the fulfillment of God’s promise depends entirely on trusting God and his way, and then simply embracing him and what he does. God’s promise arrives as pure gift. That’s the only way everyone can be sure to get in on it, those who keep the religious traditions and those who have never heard of them. For Abraham is father of us all. He is not our racial father—that’s reading the story backward. He is our faith father.

The Word of the Lord.

                Thanks be to God.

Gospel Reading Mark 8.31-38 (CEB)

Then Jesus began to teach them that the Promised One had to suffer much, be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and religious scholars, be put to death, and rise again three days later. 

32 Jesus said these things quite openly.Peter then took him aside and began to take issue with him. 33 At this, Jesus turned around and, eyeing the disciples, reprimanded Peter: “Get out of my sight, you satan! You are judging by human standards rather than by God’s!” 34 Jesus summoned the crowd and the disciples and said, “If you wish to come after me, you must deny your very self, take up your cross and follow in my footsteps. 35 If you would save your life, you’ll lose it, but if you lose your life for my sake, you’ll save it. 36 What would you gain if you were to win the whole world but lose yourself in the process? 37 What can you offer in exchange for your soul? 38 Whoever in this faithless and corrupt generation is ashamed of me and my words will find, in turn, that the Promised One and the holy angels will be ashamed of that person, when all stand before our God in glory.”

         The Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

SERMON TEXT:

Who are these twelve disciples? And why are the following this Jewish Teacher named Jesus? What do they want?

Let’s be clear. These twelve men do not think Jesus is God. Nowhere is that said. They see Jesus as a prophet of God—one who speaks on behalf of God; a person who has the message of God to share with them. There are also rumors in the air that this Teacher is actually the Messiah, the Chosen One of God. 

These first century Jews have been given a great deal of religious freedom by the Roman Emperor. They have their Temple—a great edifice—one of the wonders of the world at that time. They are allowed to worship, to have priests, to carry out animal sacrifices, to follow the 613 commandments of the Torah. 

But they don’t have full freedom of speech. You criticize the Emperor and you will be hanging on a cross outside the city walls and die a slow, torturous death.

They don’t have a nation of their own. They live under Roman occupation. What they yearn for is to be free. To be citizens of a Jewish nation of their own. But they live under the thumb of Rome and are treated as less than human. Their sense of dignity has been taken away.

But they see hope in Jesus. They follow him because he treats them with dignity. He tells them the truth of God. He calls God Abba. He speaks with authority. He gives them a vision of a kingdom: the Kingdom of God. It sounds to them that this kingdom Jesus keeps talking about is what they’re looking for. Could he be their new king? They are hopeful.

But…

PART I

Did you hear what he just said? He said he was going to suffer…to be rejected by the chief priests…and to be KILLED! 

It wasn’t just Simon Peter—we were all thinking the same thing. But Peter had the courage to take him by the arm and drag him a few steps away and look him in the eyes and say what we were all thinking. Peter didn’t mince words. In no uncertain terms he said what we all wanted to say. 

“With all due respect, Teacher” said Peter, “don’t joke around like that about your future—and our future.” “I’m not joking,” said Jesus. “I’m telling you the truth.” “NO!” yelled Simon, “We know who you are. God has anointed you. We are with you because you are our hope!”

Jesus pushed Peter’s arm away and yelled back at him. “Get out of my way! If I didn’t know better I’d think the devil has gotten hold of you! The way you’re thinking is not the way God thinks.

“Don’t you remember our father Abraham, and how God told him when he was ninety-nine years old and his wife was old as well, that they would give birth to a son? You are a descendent of that old, shriveled up  couple. How did that happen?” (He paused to let it sink in. Peter said nothing.)

Jesus continued. “I meant every word I said. I will have to suffer, and be rejected by the Temple officers. And I will be put to death.” He said every word in a deliberate manner. Fear hung in the air.

“Like father Abraham and Mother Sarah,” said Jesus, “you will have to trust God and not waver in your faith. You will have to deny yourself—your survival instinct—and take up your cross, if you really want to follow me. If you want to save your life, you will lose it. Because to live to only survive is not to live at all. In order to save your life you will have to lose it.”

His words made us nervous. Other people had gathered as he talked. He looked at all of them and said, “Are you looking for a bargain? Let me tell you something. If you gain the whole world and lose your soul, that’s no bargain. If you are ashamed of me and my death, you will be ashamed of yourself someday. 

“I know you’ve seen those men and women outside the city gates—hanging on those crosses. You want to follow me? Then you’d better get yourself your own cross. Then, get behind me.” 

We looked at each other. No one spoke. We tried to take it all in. My body was shaking…

The words of Jesus in Mark 8 are echoed by St. Paul in his letter to the congregation in Philippi:

2.1-4 If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

(from The Message)

PART II

John Lewis, whom we lost not long ago, learned some of his Civil Rights skills at the Highlander Folk School, located on a small mountain farm 90 miles away from Nashville on the Cumberland Plateau. It was founded by Myles Horton, a native of Savannah, Tennessee in 1932. It was intended to be a center to train labor leaders. It was meant to be a place to learn the practical side of organizing and protesting.

Myles Horton liked to quote a saying of his grandfather: “You can hitch your wagon to the stars, but you can’t haul corn or hay in it if its wheels aren’t on the ground.”

The Highlander Folk School played a strategic part in the Civil Rights Movement. Rosa Parks took training there, then went home to Montgomery and refused to give up her seat on the bus.

Ralph Abernathy, Pete Seeger, and Martin Luther King, Jr. participated in the schooling that took place there. Even Eleanor Roosevelt showed up at the School. It was one of the few integrated facilities in the Jim Crow South. Blacks and whites ate together, swam together, and square-danced together there. 

In 1958 John Lewis went to Highlander. He was inspired by the vision of Myles Horton, it’s founder. Horton said to him:

I think that people aren’t fully free until they’re in a struggle for justice. And that means for everyone. It’s a struggle of such importance that they are willing, if necessary, to die for it. I think that’s what you have to do before you’re really free. Then you’ve got something to live for. 

In light of that vision of the struggle for justice, we might look again at the words of Jesus: Deny yourself…take up your cross…if you want to save your life you must first lose it. The unspoken words may have been something like: 

You will not be free until you deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me.

Indeed, Jesus had made it clear that he had come onto the scene to set people free. The Lord has anointed me to set the prisoners free, to liberate the oppressed. That’s what he said at the beginning of his ministry.

He knew that only by going “all in” would we find the freedom to live with the joy that the Kingdom of God offers. When we “hold back,” we are refusing to walk through the cell door out into the world as a free person. 

The prison of our Ego is a subtle cell of selfishness. 

Jesus came to say that the Kingdom of God was breaking in so that we can break out! 

The good news of the Kingdom is that we can trust God to take care of us, no matter what. Even if we have to die for the sake of the gospel, God will take care of us. 

Jesus told them the truth. He didn’t sugar-coat it. He said: If you’re going to join my Cause, there might be trouble. You might get hurt. You might have to make the extreme sacrifice.

But you and I are lucky. We live in this small town, or another community not far away. We live in the beautiful State of Alabama. We live in the United States of America. We are safe, and we live in comfort. The extreme words of Jesus don’t really apply to us, do they?

We are indeed fortunate. And we are indeed white.