The Courage of Jesus Sunday, July 23, 2017

Transcription

1 The Courage of Jesus Sunday, July 23, 2017 Series: Get Courage Scripture: Various passages (pg. ) Theme: How Jesus interacted with the rulers of his day. I have been pondering lately, where does fear come from? I had some fun this past week, watching a 20- month old and remembering some of my psych class lessons on the origins of fear Some of our fears are innate that is, we re born with them they re programmed in us At the beach house where we spent 2 days, there was a 2 gap between the deck and the sidewalk. Every time Macie came to this gap, she stopped at the edge and took a big step over it even though it was only 2 and was no real threat at all But it reminded me of experiments I watched on old video tapes in which developmental psychologists placed very young babies on glass, see-through surfaces and observed their reactions and saw how uncomfortable they were & they cried and put up their arms for rescue- Revealing that there is something programmed into human being that makes us fear the insecurity of having nothing beneath us Which might sound like a no-brainer until you start to wonder, Why? How is this passed on to infants.? -2- Other fears are learned At first, Macie seemed enthralled with the waves and didn t mind walking in them and enjoyed sitting at the edge of them, digging in the sand But then a fairly sizeable wave crashed and crawled up the beach towards her and 4 adults suddenly rushed in her direction, scooped her up and rescued her from a certain wet bottom Something about that panic-y rescue caused Macie to wonder she started watching the waves and one or two additional last-second rescues where she was lifted at 17 g s like a pilot ejecting from a burning jet by what is a small, controlled explosion under his seat something about that convinced Macie that waves are the enemy and you could see the learned fear grow in her. Now, our innate fears are about survival: Falling, burning, being eaten by spiders or tortured by clowns Our learned fears, however these are the ones, in many, many ways, that do us no good. Macie never once worried about a bad hair day But wait a couple years and walk up to a preteen Macie and ask, Did you want your hair sticking up like that? --- We all know the eyes will widen she ll reach up with a fearful look on her face and ask, What s wrong? How long was it like that? Did anyone else see? The fear of shame of embarrassment of failing is a terrible fear to live with yet we all do.

2 -3- These learned fears are the ones which morph into worry, anxiety, insecurity These are the ones that rob us of joy and keep us from becoming the kind of people we want to be. So, we have been studying courage And we re going to look today at the courage of Jesus. We re going to take a careful look at how Jesus courageously interacted with the rulers of his day not only because it s a good thing to be able to stand up to bullies and people w/ power But because this is also about insecurities and the fear of failure and the fear of confrontation and other common fears we might have about difficult situations. Now In the interest of full-disclosure, this comes from one of my all-time favorite lessons on courage I m taking parts of a message I gave not all that long ago, so I suppose there s a hopeful part of me that says maybe some of you might remember parts of it That message came from a seminar on courage by a guy named John Ortberg and he gave credit to a scholar named Peter Richardson who wrote a book on Herod. So this has been filtered through several minds, all sharper than my own but the lesson has meant a great deal to me over the years and I hope it will to you. So let s get started -4- All of his life, Jesus had to interact with men & women who were part of the dynasty of Herod So I want to give you a brief picture of the man known as Herod the Great who was the founder of this dynasty. Herod, who was ½ Jewish, convinced the Roman senate to give him the title, King of the Jews in about 40 BC and he is the Herod who was still ruling over Israel 36 years or so later when Jesus was born. Herod was not a nice man. He s responsible for all kinds of political assassinations, including many, many of his own family members But to cut to the chase, let me tell you about just one Herod had at least 10 wives and 43 children Of the 10, he said his favorite was Mariamne, whom he married when she as about 15 years old and she gave Herod 5 children in the next 7 years. Herod grew a little suspicious of her, so he had her killed, along with her mom and 2 of her sons. And this was his favorite. When Herod was dying, probably from syphilis, 5 days before his death he had his oldest son executed because he tho t this son was a little too anxious for the throne Then, because Herod knew he was hated and the Jews would be glad to see him go

3 -5- Herod had his soldiers round up dozens of the leading citizens of Israel and had them held in a stadium in Jericho and he ordered his soldiers to kill them all when they heard that Herod had died Just so that all Israel would go into mourning when he died, even if it wasn t for him Fortunately his soldiers never carried out the order. But this is the kind of man Herod was this was his insanely jealous temperament And, this is the man who, when he heard about someone who was born in the little town of Bethlehem, just 7 miles from his palace in Jerusalem, who was destined to be the King of the Jews Herod felt insanely threatened and he ordered the slaughter of all the infants and toddlers in Bethlehem, a slaughter that Joseph, Mary and the infant Jesus barely escaped, fleeing to Egypt in the night. And all of his life-long, Jesus will be perceived as a threat by the dynasty of Herod So, although Jesus will cross paths with several members of the Herodian dynasty, we have time to focus on just one Let me introduce you to him: Luke 3:1-2, [SLIDE] It was now the 15 th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. Pontius Pilate was governor over Judea [area of Jerusalem you know Jesus and Pilate will meet] Herod Antipas was Tetrarch -6- over Galilee [Galilee is the region of Nazareth, where Jesus grew up, and it will be the area where Jesus does most of his ministry, so this is the Herod who will most often butt heads with Jesus], his brother Philip, Tetrarch over Iturea and Traconitis; Lysanias was ruler of Abilene; and Annas and Caiaphas were the High Priests. At this time, the word of God came to John, son of Zechariah, who was living in the wilderness. Now a couple things here Luke lays out all the powers of the world, from the Emperor of Rome to the High Priest in the Temple And Luke says is saying, When God wants to show up, to whom does God go? Not to the powerplayers of this world, but to an unknown man living in the wilderness, John. He will function as the prophet Elijah and he will announce that our King, our Messiah is at long last, here. And then John will point to Jesus and say, He s the one. And by doing so, John and Jesus are putting themselves directly in the crosshairs of men who hated to have their powers threatened real or imagined. So, let me fill you in on Herod Antipas and then we ll unravel his confrontations with Jesus. [OFF] When Herod the Great died, 3 of his sons traveled to Rome and appeared before Caesar and each made their case to be named King of the Jews, like their father.

4 -7- All 3 of these sons will cross paths with Jesus: Archelaeus, Herod Philip, and Herod Antipas. Caesar decided to divide Herod s kingdom rather than trust any one of these scoundrels to rule alone [SLIDE] Archelaeus was given Judea and he didn t last all that long he was constantly antagonizing the Jews and vice versa so eventually Rome sent their own governor Jesus did tell some stories about this guy Herod Philip was named Tetrarch of a region. Herod Antipas was named Tetrarch of Galilee. Now, the title Tetrarch itself is a little bit of an insult because it literally means, 1/4 King. Caesar was saying, Sorry, but no King for you. You get to be ¼ King Mini-King Wannabe King. Which, if you have Kingly Aspirations, this is not a flattering title It s like Dwight on The Office who had visions of grandeur and constantly called himself Assistant Regional Manager and was always corrected, Assistant to the Regional Manager. [OFF] Herod Antipas wanted to be King, but there was always someone correcting him, No ¼ King. Mini-King. Now in a very political move, Herod Antipas had married the daughter of his closest political rival -8- He married the princess of Nabatea and that cemented an alliance between Herod Antipas and the King of Nabatea and the alliance lasted for a while But then Herod fell in love with a young woman named Herodias Does that name have a familiar sound? She s a Herod she is the granddaughter of Herod the Great [SLIDE family tree] Daughter of Aristobulus a son Herod the Great had killed and Aristobulus is also a ½ brother to Antipas And Herodias was married to another ½ brother of Antipas Herod Philip. So: Herodias is the niece of Herod Antipas Also his sister-in-law But he fell in love wanted to marry her She agreed, on one condition, which we ll talk about in a moment --- So Herod Antipas married his niece and his sisterin-law Sounds like the Kardashians meets Romanovs? It was scandalous even then And John the Baptist --- the man to whom the Word of the Lord had come called him on it And this is what happened: Luke 3:19, 20 SLIDE

5 -9- John also publicly criticized Herod Antipas, Tetrach of Galilee for marrying Herodias, his brother s wife, and for many other wrongs he had done. So Herod put John in prison, adding this sin to his many others. [KEEP] And I am positive that when John was safely locked away, Herod Antipas dusted off his hands and tho t, There, done with him. I don t to listen to any more of that kind of God-talk. Or maybe not Matthew 4:12-17, 2 SLIDES [1] When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he left Judea and returned to Galilee. He went first to Nazareth, the left there and moved to Capernaum, beside the Sea of Galilee, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. This fulfilled what God said through the prophet Isaiah, [2] In the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, beside the sea, beside the Jordan River, in Galilee where so many Gentiles live, the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow, a light has shined. From then on, Jesus began to preach, Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of God is near. Now: Who had John arrested? Antipas. Where did Antipas rule? Galilee. Where did Jesus go? Galilee. What did he preach? Repent of your sins. What was his hope? Another Kingdom is here Jesus calmly, courageously, brazenly, walks into the territory of Herod Antipas and says, OK, Herod, you think you can silence the Kingdom of God by throwing a man in jail? You foolish, foolish man. You just don t know this Kingdom very well. It s here. It s here to stay and you can t beat it. Even by throwing its spokesman in jail, you just can t beat the Kingdom of G. [OFF] And then it gets worse for Herod Antipas Remember that Herodias had 1 condition for marrying Antipas She said, If I have to divorce Philip, you have to divorce your Nabataen Princess. Which he did And which was not a very bright move since fathers do not take kindly to rival kings kicking their princess daughters out of the palace So the King of Nabatea declares war on Herod The King of Nabatea had an army of 20,000 men Herod had an army of 10,000 soldiers There s a war a battle really and Herod Antipas was humiliated he was whooped. He crawled home w/ his beaten tale between his legs and has to depend upon Rome to keep the peace. Now, remember, Jesus is in his territory --- Go to Luke 14:28ff SLIDE Jesus is talking to a very large crowd of semi-interested followers and he wants to talk to them about what it means to thrown in w/ Jesus

6 -11- So he tells 2 little parables back-to-back here s 1 st : But don t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first counting the cost to see if there s enough money to finish it. Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. They would point and say, There s the person who started that building and couldn t afford to finish it. [KEEP ON] There s an extraordinarily large, unfinished house near Werley s Corner on Holben s Valley Road I ve driven past for years it every time I head to our family farm near Kempton It s monstrous and it s ½ finished has been ½ finished for years. I don t know the story it might be some tragedy but every time I look, in my mind, I think, There s a fool who was building for himself a monument to his ego and he ran out of money. Whatever the real story you see it as a mockery to an outsized ego and poor planning. And that s what Jesus is saying: What a fool! Then he goes on to 2 nd parable Luke 14:31-32, SLIDE Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? And if he can t, he will -12- send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away. [OFF] Do you hear what Jesus is doing? Hey, did you hear the one about the king who went to war with only ½ an army? What kind of king would do that? What a fool! What a fool. And everyone there knows exactly what king he s talking about And everyone there has their chins on the ground and they re thinking, Did he just really say that? This guy is gonna get himself in trouble with the king the king throws guys in jail for less than that. Jesus, you better zip it. Aren t you afraid you re going to end up just like John? But Jesus didn t zip it Because I don t think Jesus was afraid. He kept right on talking He knew someone was in trouble, and it wasn t him. Flip back to Luke 7 remember, John has been imprisoned by Antipas ultimately, Antipas will have John beheaded Here, John sends a message to Jesus, and that prompts Jesus to talk to the crowds about John Now, a little background before I read this:

7 -13- In the ancient world, Kings did not have the luxury of Twitter to get their message out (thankfully) So they tended to communicate through coins And since most people in the ancient world would never actually see a king kings tended to put their own image on coins It was their way of saying, Don t forget I have the power here. However, in Israel, because the Jews took the 2 nd commandment seriously commandment prohibiting making an image they gave anyone a hard time if they put their image on a coin Especially a Jewish king So Jewish kings, even half Jewish kings like Herod Antipas, would choose a symbol or several symbols to represent their reign Because he ruled over Galilee, an area in which a reed was common, Herod Antipas choose a bent reed as his symbol here s an example [SLIDE of coins] Herod Tetrarch one side (left) Bent reed on the flip side (right) And, of course, everyone knew that symbol of Herod in the same way we know the symbols of our sports teams etc. So talking about John, who had been imprisoned by Herod Antipas Jesus said this to the crowds: 7:24 SLIDE-KEEP -14- What kind of man did you go out in the wilderness to see? Was he a bent reed, swayed by every breath of wind? Who is Jesus comparing John to? Herod! Did you go looking for a man dressed in expensive clothes? No, people who wear beautiful clothes and live in luxury are found in palaces. Or, were you looking for a prophet? Yes. Yes, and more than a prophet. Do you hear what Jesus is asking? Did you go looking for a king like Herod? Is that the kind of king you want? Did you go traipsing out in the wilderness looking for that kind of a king? No, of course not because you want a better king. That s what you re looking for that s what you need a better king. And everyone standing here knows it, and even the man living in the palace knows he s a failed king he s a ¼ king and he s failed to lead and he knows you know. And every person in the crowd was silently looking at this astonishing man who has the courage to call out the king Standing there, fearless facing down the powers of his age. And, of course you have to wonder: Did Herod ever hear about this? Did he know what Jesus was saying? Of course he did. Of course he did.

8 -15- Go to Luke 13:31 SLIDE-KEEP At that time some Pharisees said to Jesus, Get away from here if you want to live! Herod Antipas wants to kill you! Of course he does. It would be obvious, wouldn t it, that if you go around talking about the ¼ King like that he ll send his soldiers eventually And Jesus knew that Ever since John was thrown in jail and beheaded, Jesus knew his days were numbered he knew. But did that stop him? Of course not look how Jesus responds Luke 13:32 SLIDE Jesus replied, Go tell that fox Now pause a minute in our day, when you think of a fox, what characteristic do you think of? Sly tricky cunning, right? [KEEP ON] In the Roman world, foxes represented something else. Foxes and jackals were usually paired together as lion wannabees Foxes and jackals were pretend lions they were phony cheap imitations of the real thing. Because the lion would make the kill, then the foxes & jackals would try to sneak in and try to steal the leftovers And if you ve ever seen the nature specials on TV, you ve seen this -16- The fox & the jackal sneaks in tries to steal a bite the lion makes one move, one roar, and the fox puts his tail between his legs and runs away So, foxes were pretend lions The rabbis actually had a saying, Better to be the tale of a lion than a head of a fox. So, when Jesus says, Go tell that fox what s he saying? Go tell that pretend king that ¼ King the mini-king And, of course, Herod Antipas would feel the sting of that immediately All his royal life he s lived with the title, Tetrarch ¼ king And here Jesus is, throwing it at him Go tell that fox He s not the king anyone wants. He s got the wrong kind of power. He s the wrong kind of king. And if you don t hear the courage in Jesus voice, you re not listening This isn t a meek & mild, pasty-white Jesus w/ soft hands and a quiet voice this is Rambo-Jesus Go tell that fox And then Jesus goes on: Luke 13:32, 33 SLIDE-KEEP Go tell that fox, that I will keep on casting out demons and healing people today and tomorrow and third day. The third day. And the third day I will accomplish my

9 -17- purpose. Yes, today, tomorrow, and the next day I must proceed on my way. For it wouldn t do for a prophet of God to be killed except in Jerusalem. Jesus knows, doesn t he? What s the third day? Resurrection Day. Why s he going to Jerusalem? To be killed. But what s the 3 rd day? Resurrection day. Do you find this kind of talk this courage to be almost more than you can imagine? Better run, Jesus, because Herod wants to kill you. Go tell that fox, I m not running. He thinks he has power. He tho t putting John in prison would bring the kingdom of God to a stop, but it didn t. It s here and it has power and it s not going away. He ll pursue me all the way to Jerusalem. And he ll put me on a cross. And he ll think then that he has finally won. But what he doesn t know is that this is a 3 rd day Kingdom and on the 3 rd day on the 3 rd day we ll see whose kingdom reigns. He s always known, Jesus did always Ever since day 1 when he said he was here to bring the Kingdom of God Ever since John was thrown into prison & beheaded Jesus knew what was waiting for him. But it didn t stop him Go tell that fox And then Jesus says one more thing and it all but breaks my heart and makes me want to give my life to this man all over again Luke 13:34 SLIDE: LEAVE ON TIL END O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather you like a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn t let me Now --- get this: Jesus has just used an animal to represent Herod and that animal was a fox. Now, Jesus uses an animal to represent himself what animal a hen. A hen. Now, if there s a battle between a fox and a hen, who usually will win that battle? The fox. When the fox gets in the henhouse, the hen has no teeth no growl no roar no claws no horn She has just herself she will draw her chicks under her wing and when the fox attacks, and maybe you ve seen this, I have, it s remarkable The hen will draw the fox away by pretending her own wing is broken and she is easy prey And the fox will have his way w/ her and she will die but her chicks will live.

10 -19- The hen will die for her chicks. And Jesus is saying, Go tell that fox, he can t win! He s not the kind of king you want a king who flaunts his power who takes what he wants and throws men of God in prison. That s not the king you want. Go tell that fox he can chase me all the way to Jerusalem, but I will not stop. I ll keep on loving I ll keep on forgiving Go tell that fox that he can have me. He can take my life. But the kingdom will go on. My children will live. And on the 3 rd day. On the 3 rd day. When does a hen beat a fox? Only on the 3 rd day and only in this kingdom. And the next time you re afraid Remember this is your king. This is who goes through your days with you. This is who goes to school with you. This is who goes to work with you. This is who goes to the hospital with you. This is who goes through life with you. Doesn t it give you courage to know this is our king? Go tell that fox, that this is a 3 rd day kingdom. And you and you and me we re in it And he, Jesus, is our King.