Maundy Thursday Message

Maundy Thursday Sermon:
As given by Chato Hazelbaker 3/18/2009

It has been said that the true character of a person is revealed in their trials. The fire of life’s trials strips off everything that is on the outside and shows us the core of a person’s character. The Bible tells us that each of us will be held accountable not for how we started the race, but for how we finish. Jesus’ final hours must have been his darkest. It is clear for the scriptures that he knew exactly what was coming. The last reading in Matthew demonstrates this as he took his prayers to the Father, asking if he could take this cup of suffering. Tonight, I want us to gain a deeper appreciation for who Christ was in his darkest time.

Let’s look carefully at what Jesus was facing nearly two thousand years ago, a night much darker and later than this. His Earthly ministry was coming to an end, and he knew the same people that had waved palms and shouted his name only four days earlier would be calling “crucify him” in a matter of hours. He knew that his best friends would either abandon or betray him. He knew the physical torment would be beyond what any person should or could be asked to bear. Jesus knew all this before the last supper, before washing the disciple’s feet, and before heading to Gethsemane. By this time Jesus even clearly knew his betrayer. Most would say that Christ’s moment of brokenness came on the cross, but I would argue that Christ’s brokenness started here, because here we see that Christ’s heart was broken. We have all heard and probably given a lot of thought to the physical brokenness of the body, but for a moment think about the mental and emotional brokenness that Jesus must have felt just hours before he was going to the cross.

So in his time of brokeness what did Jesus do – he served and he prayed.

My God, my Jesus is never in a hurry and that is one of the things that I love him for. He was intentional and he taught up to the final moment when he was taken from the disciples, and he taught them by serving. By this time the disciples would have done almost anything for Jesus. Surely they would have washed his feet, fed him, and comforted him in his time of need. If anybody deserved a day off it was Jesus. For three years he had been traveling, meeting every demand, teaching, investing his life into all those he came into contact with. Yet in his final hours he washes the disciple’s feet and serves them dinner. Not only that, Jesus doesn’t do this grudgingly, but we hear in Luke 22:15 Jesus says, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” To me that is a wonderful picture of the kind of service Jesus did. He not only served, but he did so eagerly, investing his very life into the disciples. Too often at our worst times we tend to turn inward. We focus on our needs, and what we think will satisfy the cravings of our flesh. Jesus shows us a much different way of thinking here. At his worst time he turned his attention to the disciples and ways he could serve them. In his final, darkest hours Jesus served.

Then Jesus prayed. Jesus goes to Gethsemane to meet with the Father. It is a model that we see again and again in the New Testament as Jesus took everything to prayer. Yet this prayer is one of the most profound and best described in the Bible. This prayer is a wrestling. As it says in Matthew 26:39 “Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’” Can you imagine? It says in the verses earlier in 38 that Jesus told the disciples he was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death, yet he turns to the Father in prayer. Again, I think of times when I have gotten depressed or down in my situation. My tendency is to turn inward, to turn my face from God, yet here in Matthew we get a very clear picture of Christ opening up to God in his brokenness and crying out. He does not hide that pain from the Father, but seems to take strength in sharing it with him, completely giving it over to God in his prayer in verse 42 with the words, “your will be done.”

Serve – Pray. So why does Jesus do it? He does it because his faith is in the Father. He does it because he has read the book and he knows who wins. He is not focused on the day ahead, but his focus is on eternity.

Tonight, where is our focus? Have we been challenged by this message, a reading from the “Purpose Driven Life,” “The Passion,” or something else - yet we remain among the frozen chosen. Let us do as Christ models so powerfully for us. There are 2 full days until Easter. Will we serve and will we pray? I know that in serving I can get tired. I know too often I’m focused on getting eight hours of sleep rather than doing what God has called me to do.

I really feel in my heart that I have not given enough time to this topic. There is so much that could be said about Jesus in his final hours. It is difficult to communicate what a low time this must have been in his life. It is difficult to communicate how miraculous it was that he took time when things were at their worst to serve and pray.

So, my challenge for us tonight would be this. Take the time in the next 2 days before Easter to read the 26th Chapter of Matthew. Pray about it. What is it telling you? There have been no shortages of challenges to us as a congregation lately – the question is will we answer the call.

A beautiful mess (Avatar)

I'm pretty sure no one reads this often, and it is a good thing because I'm about to step outside of my expertise into movie reviews.

So, Avatar has come up in Oscar talks and is on a course to sink Titantic in terms or revenue. Really? I'm not a Titanic fan, but the beautiful mess that is Avatar is a good example of what is wrong with mass media.

If the role of art, or in this case entertainment posing as art, is to engage us and to illumniate the human condition in some way, Avatar is a pretty poor example. I will absolutely admit that it probably deserves some kind of Oscar for technical brilliance, but once the awards ceremony moves into prime time it should be an afterthought.

The storytelling in Avatar just isn't very good. There is never a moment of suspense when one thinks Sully might not get the alien or defeat the evil hoards. Every character is a broad stroke caricature from the tough as nails heartless commander to the spineless and annoying corporate middle manager. Even in the short scenes with Nala's father we get the complete stereotypical picture of what we have typically been given in tribal leaders.

To me a great film is one that stands up over time, and this one won't. Whereas a move like Star Wars was technically ahead of its time, there were some interesting characters. The story worked and was compelling and that is why the original has held the test of time. Sure the effects look questionable now, but it's still an interesting film. The most interesting character in Avatar . . . (I started to write this sentence several times and I couldn't finish it - there are no interesting characters)