Sermon preached by John A. Huffman, Jr.
March 4, 2007
Copyright © 2007, John A. Huffman, Jr.
All rights reserved.
When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face
to go to Jerusalem.
(Luke 9:51)
During this Lenten season on the three Sundays I will be preaching, I would like to focus our thoughts on one main theme. We will be looking at "Persons at Calvary."
There were many faces in that Golgotha crowd. We will look at some of them. Their biographies are revealing. In their lives, we see that which is reflective in ourselves.
I hope that you will come to these messages with a sense of anticipation. Come prepared to look into a mirror. I will guarantee that you will see a picture of yourself that will be at some points challenging, at some points rebuking, at some points very comforting and encouraging.
You and I have different faces, do we not?
There are times of joy when we experience the little satisfactions of life. A baby is born. There's an anniversary. Those special times.
There are times of worry, those times when we are very much concerned about the future. There is a health challenge or the stock market drops five hundred points. Anxiety sweeps over us. No matter how hard we try to comfort ourselves, we can't. The anxiety doesn't seem to lift. There are those times of depression. Others can tell us to "buck up" and look on the positive side of things. It's not that easy to do, is it?
Then there are the relaxed times. There's the family reunion, when you just sit around and kick off your shoes with the people you love. You don't worry too much about what anybody thinks. They are blood relatives. You don't have to put on a front. You just reminisce about the past and enjoy the stories that are part of your family's tradition. Perhaps you don't find quite that safety in family gatherings. Instead, for you, your relaxation comes with sorority sisters or fraternity brothers, or simply that circle of friends that has grown up with you through the years.
Today's person at Calvary is Jesus.
Jesus had His various faces. He had His, dare I say it, multiple personalities.
Jesus was a joyous person. Picture Him now as He stood on the mount overlooking the Sea of Galilee. He shared those Beatitudes. Listen to Him. Hear the inspiration of His voice as He calls out, "Blessed is the person, happy is the person. . . ." Do you think He gave that with a dour countenance? He was positive, upbeat. He enjoyed a good time. Picture Him at Bethany. Even during those last days that we call Holy Week, those hours preceding His betrayal, His trials, His scourging, His agonizing trek to Golgotha and His brutal crucifixion, He had those moments when He relaxed with Mary, Martha and Lazarus at their home in that little village close to Jerusalem. Serious as He was, He calls you to cheer. Let us not look at the cross draped in black and think of Jesus only in somber hues.
He was an energetic, a vital person. This Son of God, this Son of Man, had a way of energizing people by His personality. See Him that day, when a young wealthy man came to Him. Why did he come? He was attracted to Jesus. He saw Jesus as someone who had answers in a world that didn't have many answers. The young man wasn't able to take the answer that Jesus gave. He went away sorrowful, because what Jesus said did not square with what he wanted to hear. Jesus observed his addiction to possessions and told him, if you really want to be free, let go of all those things that possess you and come and follow me. Somehow, he couldn't see through his captivity to things to the freedom he saw in Jesus, who so elegantly modeled life without addiction to things. He was just one of the many persons who sought out Jesus during His earthly ministry. They were drawn to Him because of the vitality, the magnetic quality of His personality. They could trust Him. They sensed that He knew where He was going.
See Jesus, that tender person, who was not so caught up in adult matters that He devalued the effervescence of children. On one occasion when some parents brought their children to Jesus, the disciples intervened, chiding them for such an impertinent interruption to their Master's schedule. Jesus looked the disciples directly in the eyes and said, "'Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs'" (Matthew 19:14). See a similar tenderness He showed as that woman of questionable reputation, looked down on by so many, broke an alabaster jar, pouring costly ointment on His feet. When some rebuked her, He chided them. He tenderly accepted the gracious gift, the lavish gift that was hers.
But today, we look at Jesus in a slightly different way. The reason I've chosen Him as one of the persons at Calvary is not primarily because of these characteristics we've already mentioned. Jesus was a steadfast person.
We see this steadfastness in words recorded by Luke. "When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem" (Luke 9:51-53).
The King James Version says, ". . .He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem." Actually, there is no corresponding adverb in the Greek. The word "steadfastly" doesn't appear in the original manuscripts. However, the translation is accurate, in that it emphasizes the deliberate resolution that is implicit in the Semitic statement, "He set his face." God himself uses this phrase in judgments against the spiritual rebellion of Judah during the time of Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah writes, "For I have set my face against this city for evil and not for good, says the Lord: it shall be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire" (Jeremiah 21:10).
Among all the personalities at Calvary, there was only one who had this ultimate steadfastness of purpose. As we will see, some of the other personalities vacillated. They swung back and forth, uncertain of themselves and where they were going. They made their mistakes. That is part of our human dilemma. Jesus and only Jesus had and has this supreme strength of character. He knew who He was. He knew where He had come from. He knew where He was going. He was steadfast in spite of opposition.
So now as He makes His way southward toward Jerusalem, toward Calvary, He was aware of the rumors. He knew the opposition. He knew that anyone with a steadfast purpose would run into trouble. There is nothing that threatens us more than a steadfast person. A person who knows where he is going and is determined to get there frightens us. In the process of his getting there, he shows us the limitations of our vision. He points out the shallowness of our life purpose. He shakes up those of us who have grown soft. He challenges us anew to examine our understanding of the Scriptures.
Not only was Jesus steadfast in spite of the opposition, He was also steadfast in front of His friends. The disciples didn't want Him to go to Jerusalem. They knew there would be difficulty. On several occasions, they tried to talk Him out of going there. He remained steadfast. He knew that there would be a cross, but He went anyway.
Jesus models for us by His lifestyle the importance of us being steadfast. By His teaching, He tells us the value of commitment. If we were to examine all those passages which dealt with His steadfastness, the sermon would never end. Let's look at those that emerged from this particular text, which begins our pilgrimage toward Calvary.
I.
First: We see that Jesus was steadfast to His task.
Just what was His task? Some would say He came primarily to set a good example. He did set a good example, but that was not His primary purpose in coming.
Some would say that He came to reinterpret the Old Testament Scriptures. In a way, He did spend a lot of time trying to untangle the legalistic mess that first-century Judaism had made of the Old Testament Scriptures. He kept emphasizing that the Law was not meant to destroy quality of life but to enhance it. He was attacked for healing on the Sabbath, yet He did it to show how important human health was. Granted, everyone needs at least one full day off a week for physical, emotional and spiritual recreation. That doesn't mean you can't help an animal who has stumbled into a ditch just because it's the Sabbath.
Let's keep very clear that Jesus did not come primarily to set a good example or to reinterpret the Old Testament Scriptures. Instead, follow everything He said and did, and you will read a love story, a story of redemption. You will read about the God who loves us so much that He promised Adam and Eve that One would come who would crush the head of the tempting serpent. Isaiah described One who was despised and rejected by men. He told of a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. This One would be wounded for our transgressions. This One would be bruised for our iniquities. Upon Him would be the chastisement that made us whole. With His stripes, we would be healed. Like a lamb that was led to the slaughter, so would this Perfect Lamb take upon himself our sins, our iniquities. These Old Testament prophecies were not lost on Jesus. He knew why He was here, and He was steadfast to the task.
Luke 9 makes it clear that the cross was not an accident. Three times in this chapter the cross is predicted.
First, we read of it in Luke 9:18-22. Jesus enters into discussion with His disciples. He asks who people say He is. There was a miscellaneous array of thoughts. Some said John the Baptist. Others said Elijah. Others said that one of the Old Testament prophets had risen from the dead. Jesus continued to press them, asking, "'But who do you say that I am?'" Peter answers, "'The Messiah of God.'" Jesus then sternly charged them to tell no one. Then He went on to say, "'The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes and be killed, and on the third day be raised.'"
Second, approximately eight days later, He had that Mount of Transfiguration experience. Then, the day following, immediately after healing a little boy who was being torn apart by a demon, He said, "'Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands'" (Luke 9:44). There was just one problem. The people didn't understand what He was talking about. Twice, in a nine-day period, He had predicted His own death. He knew His task.
We now see Him a third time. We don't know how much time had elapsed between these first two predictions and this third statement. All we know is that He had a sense that His time had arrived. Luke writes, "When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem" (Luke 9:51).
Why?
One reason was that He was obedient to the will of God.
As He walked southward from Galilee through that Samaritan village, He knew that, in a day or two, He would walk into Jerusalem. He knew that His purpose on earth was not just to live the good example and to reinterpret the Old Testament Scriptures, but instead it was to die. So He set His face steadfastly to Jerusalem, determined to follow through on the will of His Father. Jesus had emptied himself of His divine characteristics to take the form of a human being. As He set His face toward Jerusalem, this man was going through the anguish you and I go through, the price we pay, if we are willing to follow the will of God. His was the ultimate sacrifice. You and I have an anguish, a pain, which comes when we are obedient to the will of God.
See Him now several days later. Earlier that evening, He had broken bread and poured wine, celebrating the Passover with His disciples. Now as He walks down Mount Zion, past the temple and into the Valley of Kidron, He is agonizing in His Gethsemane. He wants to avoid the cross. How everything in Him that is human resists the pain. How everything in Him that is divine cries out with terror at the spiritual struggle, the alienation, the heavy load of sin, which will soon rest upon His broken body. So enormous is His agony that His perspiration is as drops of blood. He is not content to use an avoidance method. Even as His heart cries out, "Oh, let this cup pass from me," he continues by acknowledging His obedience to the Father, declaring, "Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done!"
It was obedience to the will of God that caused Him to set His face to go to Jerusalem. But it was not only that.
A second reason was his love for sinners made Jerusalem inevitable. The Bible says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The Bible says that not one of us is perfect. Every one of us needs the Savior. Jesus set His face toward Jerusalem, picturing in His mind persons past, present and future whose lives would be irrevocably changed if He would be steadfast to His task.
Picture Him as He strides that dusty roadway from Galilee through the hills of Samaria. What were His private thoughts? God is the only one who knows. As repulsed as He was by Calvary, He could look backwards in history and see all those who would be covered by His blood, who trusted in God as God had, to that point, revealed himself. He could look to the present and see His people, His followers, who were beginning to be a called-out people. He could look to the future, and He could see the Church through the centuries ahead. He could picture us sitting here today at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, California, as persons, every one of us, needing His grace, His love, His forgiveness. It was with this steadfast resolution that Jesus set His face toward Jerusalem. He went to the cross to bear your sins and mine.
The way to the cross is not easy. It wasn't easy for Him. It is not easy for those of us who are willing to identify with Him in the way of the cross. It demands difficult decisions. It demands a commitment of life, time and energy. It demands a willingness to stand up and be counted, even when it is difficult to stand up and be counted.
Where would you be today if Jesus avoided His task? What if he had wavered in His resolution? What if, on that road, he had turned back? There was always another wedding at Cana He could have attended. He enjoyed a good time. There were other people to help. Galilee was so much more comfortable. There would be no Sanhedrin in Galilee. Judas wouldn't have his constituency. Caiaphas couldn't operate there. Pilate wouldn't take the time. They were simple folks, those Galileans. Play it safe. Avoid the cross. No, He couldn't, and He wouldn't!
Are you avoiding your task? Or are you obedient in love even to the point of sacrifice and hurt?
I remember reading a statement by Eugene Jennings, a Michigan State University researcher, who, in 1969, was beginning to notice a change in the business world toward divorce. In the early 1960s, a divorce was a surefire career stopper. He observed that that was beginning to change. In fact, it's becoming "ethical to be divorced." Companies were discovering that men who were willing to discard their commitments to their wives and children for the good of the company would produce more than those with divided loyalties. I remember when pastoring in Pittsburgh, even as recently as the early 1970s, divorce could be an obstacle to business success. Then one day in the late 70s, an executive who had been edged out because of a divorce, had moved to California, remarried, came back as a CEO of a prominent firm. That was big news.
I'm not trying to make the definitive statement on divorce. Jesus acknowledged, regretfully, that at times it was necessary. And here at St. Andrew's, we've done our best to bring healing and health to those who've gone through the painful reality of this. But what Jesus models for us is a loyalty and faithfulness to the various tasks, commitments, responsibilities we've been given and to do our very best to follow through on them.
II.
Second: Jesus was steadfast in His tolerance.
There's a fascinating story within this story. Even as we see Jesus setting His face to go to Jerusalem, He sends messengers ahead of Him into a Samaritan village.
This was highly unusual. You are familiar with the low regard that the Jews had for the Samaritans. The feeling was reciprocal. The Samaritans couldn't stand the Jews. The direct way from Galilee to Jerusalem led through Samaria. Most Jews avoided it. The Samaritans did everything they could to hinder and, even in some cases, injure the pilgrims who attempted to pass through their territory. Hospitality for a Jew was almost nonexistent. Most Jews crossed the Jordan River eastward just south of Galilee, traveled down the east bank, coming back across the Jordan at Jericho, finding their way to Jerusalem by way of the treacherous, steep Jericho Road. This is a much longer journey.
When Jesus passed through Samaria, He was making a statement. It was a statement of tolerance. He was extending a hand of friendship to people who were natural enemies. Not only was hospitality refused, but even the offer of friendship was scorned. The Samaritans wanted nothing to do with Him.
The disciples became angry. James and John were infuriated to see that this half-breed group of people were so inhospitable. They made a suggestion. "'Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?'" (Luke 9:54). But Jesus turned and rebuked them. They traveled on to another village.
Today, it is not hard to find tolerance. Many people are very tolerant. What is hard to find today is people who have a deep spiritual conviction, who know the righteousness of their calling in Jesus Christ, who hold to absolute truth as revealed in the Scriptures, and yet do it with grace, love and a spirit of tolerance.
I am convinced we are about to face a backlash of popular resentment against American evangelical Christians because of the nasty way some of us do business. Some of us play politics the same way that the world does. Jesus didn't do it that way. Throughout history, the greatest spread of the Gospel has happened and the greatest revivals of Christian faith have occurred not when followers of Jesus have been angry, ugly and demanding but when they have ministered with deep love and compassion for all people.
John Wesley was the great Methodist leader of eighteenth-century England. He had an enormous influence on the younger generation of business, political and religious leaders who brought about great social reform, and many of them did it in the name of Jesus Christ. Not one to wink at injustice, not one to hesitate to speak the truth, firmly, without compromise, Wesley also had at the very core of his ministry a deep dedication to tolerance. He was aware of the counterproductive results of intolerance. Reflect on his following words:
I have no more right to object to a man for holding a different opinion from mine than I have to differ with a man because he wears a wig and I wear my own hair; but if he takes his wig off and shakes the powder in my face, I shall consider it my duty to get quit of him as soon as possible.
He went on to say:
The thing which I resolved to use every possible method of preventing was a narrowness of spirit, a party zeal, a being straightened in our own bowels - that miserable bigotry which makes many so unready to believe that there is any work of God but among themselves.
How important it is to show a tolerance, an understanding of those with whom we differ, to treat them with love and respect without compromising the integrity of our own commitments.
III.
Third: Jesus was steadfast to His priorities.
Jesus had a tremendous way of combining dedication to His task with a tolerance of others while, at the same time, challenging people to reexamine their own priorities.
His was not a sentimental, slushy tolerance. He dealt confrontationally. He said if you have ought against a brother, go to that brother and confront that person directly. He said, "'Be on your guard! If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, "I repent," you must forgive'" (Luke 17:3-4).
Do you catch this linkage of tremendous dedication to a task with a sensitive understanding of another person, while yet challenging that other person to a reexamination of his priorities and a higher standard for living?
Walk along a little farther with Jesus on the road to Jerusalem. As He walks, three men talk with Him about becoming His disciples. Every one of us would love to have followers. Jesus was not content to have casual commitments. He wanted the priorities to be clear. His was a serious business. There was no place for casual commitment. Each of these men wanted Jesus in a half-way sort of way. Each of them apparently ended up being disqualified to be His followers because of their distorted priorities.
One man said, "'I will follow you wherever you go'" (Luke 9:57). Jesus challenged this man to count the cost before he made such a brash statement. Jesus told how even "'. . .Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head'" (Luke 9:58). Jesus Christ refuses to be number two or three on your priority scheme. He calls you to give all of yourself to Him, reminding you that His ways are not necessarily easy. He calls you to a self-denying devotion, furthering the Kingdom of God.
The second man assured Jesus that he would follow Him. He said this one thing. "'Lord, first let me go and bury my father'" (Luke 9:59). To this, Jesus responded, in essence saying, "Friend, do it now or never. Your aspirations are good. There's no better time than the present." It isn't that Jesus doesn't want you to give attention to family. What he is saying is that all of our excellent ideas and good plans need to be acted on now. Why procrastinate? Some scholars say that this chap's father had not yet died. He was simply saying, "Let me attend to what I need to attend to now, and then some day, I will come and be your follower. Once my father dies, I get my inheritance, and then I'm free to really be your follower."
Many years ago, the evangelist Charles G. Finney was carrying on evangelistic services in Rochester, New York. During one of his meetings, there was present the Chief Justice of the New York Supreme Court. During the evangelistic message, this very honorable prominent person in the community was moved by the Spirit of God. He was moved to repentance. He was moved to sense his need of the Savior. And yet, conflicting with the movement of the Spirit of God in his life was a contradictory movement that said, "You are a sophisticated leader in this community. When the invitation comes, you are not going to get up and make a fool of yourself, are you?" That man swung back and forth in the course of that message until finally steadfastly, resolutely, he got up and walked all the way down the aisle right in the middle of Charles Finney's message. He walked up on the platform, tugged at the elbow of the evangelist and said, "Sir, if you give the invitation now, I'll come." He was fearful that, if he didn't act at that moment, he would give in, not to the Holy Spirit's urging but to that other voice of Satan, which said his respectability was more important.
Now is the time to decide! Choose to follow Jesus now. Don't wait until later.
There is the absolute priority of the important that competes with the tyranny of the urgent. Wait until tomorrow to write that letter, to say that word of thanks, to express your love, do that good deed, to spend time with your children or with your spouse, and you may find that tomorrow never comes. Wait to receive Jesus until a better day. That better day may never come. Wait to tithe until you have more money, and you may discover that you never have enough. Now is the moment of decision. Put Jesus Christ at the top of your priorities.
The third man was determined to follow Jesus, but he first wanted to say farewell to those at home. Jesus responded in a way that sounds a bit arbitrary. "'No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God'" (Luke 9:62). He wasn't saying don't love your family. He was saying beware of constantly looking back, second-guessing, living your life with secondary priorities competing for first-priority place.
Have you ever plowed a field? Back when I was a teenager in the mid-1950's, I kept a two-acre garden on some farm land close to a lake in Indiana. I can still remember plowing with a little gas-driven, two-wheeled plow. I wanted to plow a straight line. I thought I could keep a straight line by looking back over my shoulder and forward. I discovered the truth of what Jesus said here. Every time I looked back, the line swerved off. I found the only way to plow was to fix my eye forward on a fence post, a weed, or some other object at the end of that row and plow straight toward that point.
A great preacher tells how once at the seaside, when he was with his little grandson, they met an old minister. The old man was very disgruntled and, to add to all his troubles, he had had a slight touch of sunstroke. The little boy had been listening but had not picked it up quite correctly. When they left the grumbling complaints of the old man, the grandson turned to his grandfather and said, "Granddad, I hope you never suffer from a sunset!" William Barclay, who relates this story, makes the point that the Christian marches on, not to the sunset looking backward, but to the dawn looking forward. The watchword of the Kingdom is not "backward!" but "forward!"
Jesus challenges you and me to reassess our priorities and decide whether we really mean business with Him. Is He first? Is He number one in your priorities?
Some years ago when Charlton Heston was in his prime, Anne and I attended the stage play in which he starred titled "A Man for All Seasons." Heston played the role of Sir Thomas More. He was vividly portrayed as a man who refused to compromise his priorities. King Henry VIII so badly wanted More's approval of his divorce from Catherine of Aragon and his marriage to Anne Boleyn. But the scholarly theological statesman More couldn't compromise his principles. He withstood the king's flattery and threats. He remained steadfast to his convictions. On July 6, 1635, he was beheaded in the Tower of London.
Would you have that kind of steadfastness to your moral convictions?
I hope by now you've seen the movie "Amazing Grace." It tells the story of British statesman William Wilburforce. Slavery was a major life reality of the seventeenth and eighteenth century in French, English and American life. The "triangular trade" went something like this. Slave ships left European ports for West Africa with rum, guns, textiles and other goods to exchange for slaves. They then transported the slaves across the Atlantic to sell to plantation owners in the Caribbean and in the American colonies. The ships then returned to England and France with sugar, coffee and tobacco. For most of the French and the English, slavery was a distant reality. It produced a robust economy and much desired products. The means by which those sugar lumps arrived on tables in polite society were carefully hidden. Gradually, word of the heinous treatment God-created human beings were receiving began to drift back through social reformers, such as Thomas Clarkson, some of the Quakers, and a former slave ship captain become an Anglican priest by the name of John Newton. A young British politician by the name of William Wilburforce became captivated by the horror of the slave trade and began to work in Parliament towards abolishment. He kept his priorities straight. It took over twenty years to finally outlaw the slave trade in the British empire in 1807, the two hundredth anniversary of which we celebrated several days ago. And it took another twenty years to actually abolish slavery itself, something that Wilburforce lived to see only on his deathbed. That's priorities, my friends, staying faithful, steadfast to the work to which God has called you.
Today, so much of the steadfastness we see is that of persons in the political business or entertainment world, determined to reinforce their celebrity in whatever ways possible. Imagine what would happen in society if persons were as determined to follow Jesus Christ as some are to prove that they are the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby daughter.
Jesus models and teaches that steadfastness of task, that steadfastness of tolerance and that steadfastness of priority. As we look at the persons at Calvary, are you willing to identify with the One who hangs there, God in human form, the most steadfast of all? Are you willing to claim His strength, His resilience, His quality of commitment to be given to your life where you live and where you serve? As you waiver back and forth, I urge you now to set your face steadfast toward Jerusalem!