"The Jesus we need" - Sermon for the 4th Sunday of Easter

Sermon:

Text:

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who leads us to still waters.

Happy Hanukkah!  Put on your yamakah, it’s time for Hanukkah!  to quote Adam Sandler in his Hanukkah song, And no, I don’t think it’s December, our text today begins with saying that Jesus is in Jerusalem for the Feast of the Dedication, which is Hanukkah.

Hanukkah is the festival celebrating the rededication of the temple in the year 165BC. Around 2 years before this the Emperor of the Seleucid Empire, which was begun out of the Empire that Alexander the Great founded. The emperor overthrew the Jewish leadership and built a statue to Zeus in the Jewish Temple, and ordered pigs to be sacrificed on the altar. This enraged the Jews and they revolted against the empire and retook Jerusalem in 165, where they destroyed everything that had been brought into the temple and built a new altar. They then had a 8 day celebration to rededicate the temple, during which a menorah was supposed to be lit for all 8 days, but they could only find one bottle of the special oil needed to keep it lit, but miraculously the oil was enough to keep the menorah lamp lit the whole time. And so Hanukkah became a national holiday celebrated yearly at the time of the rededication of the temple. Which happens to fall near to Christmas and so it is lifted up within our culture to compete.

Jesus is in Jerusalem for this festival of 8 days that celebrates the over throw of the Seleucid empire that was occupying them at the time, and the rededication of the temple, at the same time as when the Jewish people are again under an occupation by Rome. And as Jesus is walking around Jerusalem and worshiping in the temple some people come up to him asking him to tell them exactly who he is? Is he the Messiah?

To these people the Messiah is the one promised to set the people free, to retake the throne of David and lead Israel to victory over her enemies. And so it would make perfect sense for the Messiah to be announced to the Jewish people in the midst of the festival of the Dedication, where they remember the last time they were able to overcome occupation and for a brief time be free. To them it makes sense to have the messiah who they view as a warrior who will lead them to victory in war be announced during Hanukkah, a festival where the Jewish people revolted themselves and thought they had saved themselves from occupation.

But, Jesus says, I’ve told you who I am, but you don’t believe what I’ve said, you seen who I am through what I’ve done. 

Pretty much, I’ve shown you and you didn’t see it. You’ll just have to wait then. Wait until I show you something more. So, Jesus doesn’t tell people that he’s the messiah during the festival of the dedication, instead it’s not until Passover that he truly shows forth what it really means to be Messiah. 

To Jesus, the Messiah is still indeed the one who will free the people, but not through being a warrior leading them to war like they are expecting, instead Jesus is the Lamb of God and the Good Shepherd. He shows who he is not at a festival celebrating the people uprising in war, but at Passover, celebrating God’s work in freeing them from Captivity. Where Hanukkah is when the people did the work in rising up in war, Passover is the time when God through the sacrifice of a lamb saved the people from slavery. 

Jesus announces he is the Messiah not at a festival aimed at lifting up violence and war, but a festival lifting up the sacrifice of an innocent one. 

The people want Jesus to be a fighter who will destroy their enemies, instead he’s the Lamb of God, giving himself up for the salvation of the world.

The people want Jesus to be a mighty warrior leading them to victory in war, instead he’s the good shepherd who leads them and us to still waters.

What they want is war, but what they need is peace.

I’ve been busy and little stressed, and a little tired recently. I think many of you feel the same way. It’s just a busy time of year, and it always feels like after Christmas is done it will slow down, but then Lent and Easter happen, and then you think, well, after Easter Sunday it will slow down, but then it’s almost graduation time, it’s time to do yard work again, it’s time to deal with taxes, it’s time to figure out summer plans, it’s time to do this and that and the other thing and something else and everything all at the same time. And we’re just tried and exhausted.

And we don’t need a warrior to lead us to more and more and more, what we need is exactly who Jesus is, a shepherd who will lead us to still waters, who will give us peace. Who when we are walking through that darkest valley, will walk with us.

We need Jesus to be the Messiah he says he is, not the one everyone else says he has to be. We need to have the good shepherd give us peace in the midst of turbulent times and stressful moments.

So, to close out our sermon to day I want us to take a moment of peace and quiet and listen to a version of Psalm 23. (CEB)

1 The LORD is my shepherd. I lack nothing.

2 He lets me rest in grassy meadows; he leads me to restful waters;

3 he keeps me alive. He guides me in proper paths for the sake of his good name.

4 Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no danger because you are with me. Your rod and your staff— they protect me.

5 You set a table for me right in front of my enemies. You bathe my head in oil; my cup is so full it spills over!

6 Yes, goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the LORD's house as long as I live.