Jesus is Lord (includes Mehdi and Jinous’ Statement of Faith)
Preacher: Phil Swain Reading: Luke 4:14-30
A special celebration where we as a community, and Jinous and Mehdi in particular, declare that Jesus is Lord! During this service we celebrated the baptisms of Mehdi and Jinous and witnessed their public declaration of faith. This recording includes their statements as well as Phil exploring Luke chapter 6 where Jesus invites us to consider what it mean to acknowledge him as Lord and the joy and challenge that comes when we respond to Jesus’ invitation to follow him.
Sermon Text
After that moving celebration of baptism and Jinous and Mehdi’s amazing statements of faith, as well as sharing in communion to come … this is not going to be a long sermon, but there is a gem in this passage from Luke that I wish to highlight.
On the surface, the first part of our reading seem to be just another two of the many run-ins that Jesus has with the Pharisees about keeping God’s law. You see, the Pharisees were very particular about the rules or details of the law. So, for example – one of the ten commandments tells us to keep the Sabbath Day holy … so the Pharisees had come up with all these extra rules and interpretations of exactly what a person could and couldn’t do on the Sabbath in order to keep it holy – including some about not working on a Sabbath … such as picking grain or helping in non-life threatening situations.
So when they accuse Jesus of being “unlawful” in relation to the Sabbath … Jesus pushes back. Is it unlawful to feed someone who is hungry … or to save a life or bring healing … just because it is the Sabbath? Is that what God means by keeping the Sabbath holy? Refusing to help those in need?
I quite like this approach from Jesus because I am a person who often sees rules as more of guidelines and argue that sometimes commonsense needs to prevail more than the letter of the law. But the trap that I can fall into is starting to be too forgiving or too focused on showing grace rather than following the letter of the law … that I start to think that God’s law isn’t really relevant anymore or not worth worrying about.
Jesus’ himself said in Matthew 5:17 that he had not come to abolish the law or the prophets but rather to fulfil them. So, how do we – as people who want to honour God and follow Jesus – find a practical balance between the Pharisee’s extreme “you must follow the law even if it means going hungry or hurting others” and “who cares about the law – just focus on grace”.
And this is where I think there is a gem in our reading that helps understand this. Verse 5. When the Pharisees questioned Jesus about this Jesus responded, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath”.
What does it mean to say that “Jesus is Lord”.
The word Lord has had different meanings over the years – for example, from the middle ages onwards, the Lord was someone who owned the land or an aristocrat with a title. They would be the people who made decisions about those on their land. But the understanding of Lord during the Biblical times had a slightly different focus – it was more about a “master”. Not as in master and slave, or of a conqueror or dictator … but rather some who was like a powerful guardian who provided for those under their care. A Lord is one who wants to best for their people and would use their power or share their resources to bless others. Which is why it was common to use the term in a religious way … to say that the Almighty God is like a Lord or in terms of the New Testament … that Jesus is Lord.
So … when the Pharisees wanted to engage Jesus in an argument about what and what is not permitted in Sabbath law, Jesus took a different perspective.
If Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, then the Sabbath should be about what is helpful for people. If the disciples were hungry, then it makes sense for them to eat. What doesn’t make sense is for the Lord to say, “the letter of the law says no work so … sorry but you have to go hungry”. If a Lord saw one in their care suffering like the man with a shrivelled hand, then he would show mercy – even if it was the Sabbath.
But just as I mentioned before – we need to be careful not to move the pendulum too far and say that if Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath then anything is permissible on the Sabbath. No … we still need to keep it holy. We still need to honour God in how we approach it.
And this is the gem that we can take for ourselves today. You see, Jesus is more than Lord of the Sabbath. We are invited to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord of our lives. Jesus – like the biblical understanding of Lord – is not one who demands that we follow him or demands that we love him, but rather offers to be our powerful guardian to us. Jesus offers us help and protection and guidance and blessings because Jesus wants the best for us. Actually, Jesus said in John 10 that he had come so that we might have life – an abundant life full of blessings.
All we need to do is to acknowledge Jesus as Lord and to commit to live in a way that honours Jesus as Lord, to follow the way of Jesus our Lord.
Isn’t that what Jinous and Mehdi did in their baptism earlier … declare that Jesus is Lord of their lives and commit to follow in the way of Jesus? It should be something that we regularly recommit to – and which we will have an opportunity to do soon when we share in communion.
But one last bonus gem from our Bible reading to finish. The Narrative lectionary adds a third story to the two stories about Sabbath laws … the story of Jesus calling the 12 apostles.
Yes, notice that I didn’t say the calling of the 12 disciples but rather apostles. Luke records this in an interesting way. Verse 13 … after a night of prayer, Jesus called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them whom he also designated apostles.
Jesus had more than 12 people – men and women – who had responded to his call to follow him and were committed to learning from him and becoming like him. A disciple is anyone who makes that decision to follow Jesus. So Jesus calls all the disciples close and sets apart 12 of them of a special task – to be the apostles. Apostle literally mean the one who is set apart or the one who is sent. So what are we? Are we disciples or are we apostles? Or both?
Jesus calls everyone to follow him – and anyone who responds like Jinous and Mehdi have shown us today – is a disciple of Jesus. So yes, we are disciples.
However, I also believe that at different times of our lives, or when need arises in the kingdom of God, then Jesus might call us to do a specific task or take on a specific role or to be set aside to help in a certain way … like the apostles. And I believe that this can and does and will happen at different times to all followers of Jesus, to all disciples. We always need to have a listening ear to hear the call of Jesus (or an open spirit to sense the nudge of God) and be willing to respond. So yes, we are also both disciples and sometimes apostles.
We are just about to share together in communion (after a song and our prayers for others). I feel that God is calling me today to invite you to consider responding to the call of Jesus this morning.
As you come forward for communion – I am going to invite to consider two things:
- To respond anew to Jesus calling to follow him and declare today that Jesus is Lord … you can say it out loud as you receive communion … Jesus is Lord. Or you can just use it as a silent chant as you await to come forward. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is my Lord. Jesus is Lord.
- To listen to God to see whether God is stirring within you a specific calling – to help, to serve, to share, to encourage … is God calling you to be set apart for a purpose?
If you would like to – as you pass the baptismal font as you come forward for communion – you can symbolise this responsive and ask me to place the sign of the cross on you. You don’t have to … but I thought that you would offer.
Let us prepare for communion by worshipping and praying to Jesus our Lord. Amen.