Sunday Messages

Nothing remains the same when Jesus in his unveiled sufficiency and supremacy confounds the minds, crushes the skepticism, shuts the mouths, and destroys self-sufficient legalism.

Colossians 1:1-18

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 To God's holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.

3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all his people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true word of the gospel 6 that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world— just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God's grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

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For the next couple of months we will be studying the book of Colossians together. To begin with, let’s think about the document as a whole. It is only four pages in a small Bible, not a very long piece of literature. But it is more than nineteen hundred years old, and yet it still retains its vitality and importance. The validity of its testimony is undimmed by the centuries.

The letter to the Colossians was written by the apostle Paul when he was in prison in Rome. The end of the book of Acts describes Paul under house arrest awaiting a trial in which his very life would be in the balance. It was at that time that he became concerned about word that a man named Epaphras had brought to him of some problems that were overtaking the Christians at the church in the city of Colossae. So Paul poured out his heart to them in this letter, urging them to stand firm and become aware of what was happening to them, strengthening them for the difficulties before them.

Let’s think about most of the paper that passes through our lives. Many institutions, including churches, are issued recycling bins because a high percentage of the communications that come through an organization are written on white paper that can be recycled. The fact that we use waste baskets and even recycling bins in our homes is an acknowledgment that in this culture we do not expect the memos, letters, and other paper goods we use to last very long. If we are in a computer network, we may get electronic mail that never even becomes paper; we erase it periodically, and it never takes any permanent form at all. In the book of Colossians, however, we have a letter that was written to have a lasting impact on the people who read it, as indeed it has not only on them but on every generation since.

Our modern age is growing more and more concerned about the form documents take. With desktop publishing we can easily produce graphs, pictures, and colors to enhance the way our documents look. The ancients, on the other hand, were more concerned about the content of what they wrote than about the appearance. If we had received the original letter that Paul dictated and signed, or an early copy of it, it would probably have been written in cramped letters on parchment or papyrus. It was difficult to create writing materials, so they squeezed as much onto a sheet as they could. They didn't even leave spaces between words, but ran them all together. And when one of these letters was received, it was cherished because of what it had to say about a living God who cares for people.

We have already been presented with an introduction to the book of Colossians—“Life Forever Changed.” So even though our text in this message includes the first 18 verses of Paul’s opening words to the believers in Colossae, we are going to focus our thoughts primarily upon the supremacy of Jesus Christ from verses 15-18.

We need to get our heads straight at the inception of this message series. The sufficiency and supremacy of Jesus is what moves this letter. Paul writes of the declaration concerning this true Jesus. It’s not a long list of all the intricacies and errors of those who are creeping in that Paul focuses on, it’s Jesus in his unveiled glory that confounds the minds, crushes the skepticism, shuts the mouths, and destroys self-sufficient legalism. When Jesus is viewed in truth, nothing remains the same.

Who is this Jesus? This is perhaps the most profound question ever asked of God to us in Matthew 16:13-15…

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" 14 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"

Here Jesus asks the broader question, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” which is followed by the more important question to the disciples, “Who do you say I am?” We may notice that Jesus is asking his disciples, as well as each of us his followers. It is significant for the disciples of Jesus to ask this question as it is for the world. Each of us will give a Christology at the end of our days. We will either say, “I thought this about Jesus” or “I didn’t think much of Jesus.” We must all take a stance on the person of Jesus. This is the point of the questions “Who do you say that I am?”

The opinions from world religions and cults are many with regards to the identity of Jesus of Nazareth. Some think he’s a good man, some think he’s a great teacher, some think he was a healer, a prophet, an angel, a divine emanation. Some have even claimed he was a demon, he was possessed, he was a liar, and he was a lunatic. In our day we want him as our republican Jesus, our democrat Jesus. We want him as our NRA or ACLU card carrying Jesus, our communist Jesus, our gay Jesus, our gay hating Jesus, our rebel Jesus, our institutional and proper Jesus, our buddy, our peace loving or war hating Jesus. Some avoid the discussion altogether and simply say Jesus never existed. But everyone has a Christology.

Paul doesn’t play musical chairs with Jesus’ identity, assuming that when the music stops we sit down on our own theological opinions, thinking it’s OK with him. In fact, Jesus himself is quite concerned with how we view him, and he is quite concerned with our answer to his question, “Who do you say that I am?”

Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae is intentionally woven into the fabric of all 66 books of the Bible that are supremely focused on one person—Jesus Christ. The Old Testament records the preparation and expectation of Jesus’ coming. The gospels declare Jesus as God who has come in human flesh to save sinners. In Acts, the message of the God breaking into humanity in the person of the risen Jesus for the salvation of the lost spreads throughout the world. The epistles declare the theology of Jesus’ person and work, and his acting body which is the church. And finally, Revelation presents Jesus upon a throne, reigning as Kings of kings and Lord of lords. Every part of Scripture is saturated with testimony about Jesus Christ. The history of this world is centered and focused upon God and is shown to us in his Son Jesus. The answer to every theological, philosophical, and psychological question is found in the person and work of the true Jesus.

Gnosticism =“there is a special, higher truth that only the enlightened receive from God.”

We need to get our heads straight. This heresy called Gnosticism threatening the Colossian church in the first-century is no different than the heresy threatening our churches in the twenty-first century. It is centered on the Person of Jesus Christ. The heretics in Paul’s day denied Jesus’ humanity and viewed him as one of many lesser descending spirit beings that emanated from God. The Gnostics taught a form of philosophic dualism, teaching the spirit was good and matter was evil. So, they assumed, a good spirit like Jesus could never take on a body composed of evil matter. The idea of God becoming human flesh was ridiculous to them.

They also taught that Jesus was not sufficient for salvation. They tried to require that Jesus-followers submit to a superior, mystical, secret knowledge, beyond the gospel of Christ. It involved worshiping good angels and keeping Jewish ceremonial laws. But by far the most grievous and serious error the heretics made was its rejection of Christ’s deity. Before getting into right living and other errors, Paul makes an emphatic defense of this critical doctrine. Paul, in his opening words of his letter, wanted the Colossian Christians to…

• affirm who they are (verses 1-2)
• accept what God has done (verses 3-8)
• ask for the knowledge of God’s will (verse 9)
• assume accountability for the way they live (verse 10-12)
• abound in the security of the new creation (verses 13-14)
• amass the immeasurable riches of Jesus Christ (verses 15-18)

The Sufficiency and Supremacy of Christ

Paul confronts the heretics in his day and ours head on. He wants to accomplish two things: to show the new Jesus-followers that everything he has prayed for on their behalf is available through Christ; and to confront the demeaning of Christ by the Gnostics who refused to accept the Incarnation as the ultimate revelation of God.

Paul’s writing soars to a sweeping crescendo as he tells the Colossians about the supreme adequacy of Jesus Christ and his immeasurable riches. He uses very dramatic and impelling language to construct his defense of the sufficiency of Christ.

How can we account for the immeasurable riches of Jesus Christ?

1. Christ is the “image of the invisible God”

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

The word “image” has several usages that help us examine the depths of what Paul meant. An image was an exact representation and revelation; a reproduction with precise likeness, derived exactly from a prototype. An image of a sovereign or hero on a coin, or a painted portrait of a person’s likeness, was an image. Another example which is helpful is that legal contracts in ancient times not only had a person’s signature, but a description of the person’s features and characteristics. This was also called an image.

For us as Jesus-followers today the key importance of image means manifestation, an observable exhibition. What Paul wanted to establish was that Jesus is the exact likeness of God. More than that, he was God himself in human form. That cut to the core of the Gnostic hedging about Jesus as one emanation or angel from God. We are ordained by God to be like Jesus [See Romans 8:29]. In our time the false simplicity of people who say that there are many roads to God, that Jesus is a way and not the only way.

Carnivals and sideshows sometimes have an attraction of crazy mirrors. The body length mirrors are not straight like the ones we have in our homes, but full of curves and angles. Some of the mirrors make us look extraordinarily tall and skinny, others make us look squat and fat, some leave our bottom half unaffected but our top half severely distorted, and vice versa. As people pass in front of them its fun to see their shrieks of delight, horror and self-consciousness. The world's religions can be seen as a set of carnival mirrors. Each in some way provides a reflection of God and reality. Each also distorts God and reality to varying degrees. Jesus however provides us with a perfect mirror image of God and insight into reality. He is like the flat mirror of clarity among the carnival mirrors of distortion today.

Paul stated his case directly: Christ is the logos of God, the image in whom we meet and comprehend the true nature and character of God, as an image, an absolutely reliable portrait.

2. Christ is “the firstborn over all creation”

15 …the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Christ has priority and sovereignty over creation. “Firstborn” implies honor, favor, chosenness, uniqueness. Paul meant that Christ has more than supremacy over the rulers of the earth. More profoundly, he wanted to convey that Christ was not only uncreated, but was himself the creator.

Christ is the Lord of all creation. Paul states it plainly that all things were created by Christ. Again Paul reveals a confrontation with the Gnostic system of angels and intermediaries between humanity and God. Thrones, powers, rulers, and authorities were terms used for the different degrees of angels.

A guide took a group of people through an atomic laboratory and explained how all matter was composed of rapidly moving electric particles. The tourists studied models of molecules and were amazed to learn that matter is made up primarily of space. During the question period, one visitor asked, “If this is the way matter works, what holds it all together?” For that question, the guide had no answer.

But Paul says that Jesus-followers have an answer: Jesus Christ! Because “Jesus is before all things,” he can hold all things together. Again, this is yet another affirmation that Jesus Christ is God. Only God exists before all of Creation, and only God can make Creation bond together. To make Jesus Christ less than God is to dethrone him.

3. Christ is “the head of the body, the church”

18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

Paul now deals with the absolute unity of origin of creation and the church. The head of the body, Christ is the mainspring, the unifying guidance, the inspiration of the church. Life springs forth from Christ and is sustained by him. Christ is the first to rise from the dead. We celebrate this truth at Easter. His resurrection is the beginning of the new humanity. As the resurrected Savior, and King, Jesus reigns as head of the church.

This image must grip our minds as Jesus-followers. In Jesus, we are alive in the abundant life, now and forever. The church is the fellowship of the resurrected people who have been raised to newness of life and liberated from the power of death. The resurrected Lord is the supreme leader of the church as the gathering of the resurrection. And in the body of believers, Christ holds first place in everything. CHRIST FIRST, what a great name for a church!

John Stott writes in his book “Basic Christianity”…Essentially Christianity is Christ. The Person and work of Christ are the foundation rock upon which the Christian religion is built. If He is not who He said He was, and if He didn’t do what He had said He had come to do, the whole super-structure of Christianity crumbles in ruins to the ground.

These opening words of Paul in his letter to the believers at Colossae must leave us deeply stirred and moved. Paul is lifting our heads upwards towards the true Christ. This is so important to remember. Jesus is so much greater, so much more powerful, so much more awesome, majestic, and transcendent than our small brains often image him. This truth should also astonish us.

Dad was sitting watching television, when his little boy came running over. "Daddy, can you play with me?" Dad enjoys playing with his son, and plans to give him plenty of time, but not just yet. "Soon, son, soon" says Dad. "When this program finishes." Five minutes later the little boy returns. "Daddy, can we play now?" "Soon, son, soon. When this program finishes." Two minutes later the little boy returns again. "Daddy, is it time to play yet?" Dad realizes he's not going to get any peace, so he decides to give his son a task that will take some time. He notices a picture of the world on the front page of the newspaper lying in front of him. He tears the picture out then rips it into small pieces. "Now son, I've got a game for you. Take the pieces of this picture of the world and put them back together again and then we'll play together." The little boy eagerly takes the pieces away with him and sets to work. Dad's relieved he'll get to see the last half hour of his TV program. But to his amazement his little boy is back in less than five minutes. "I've finished daddy. Can we play now?" The father is stunned when he turns around to see his son holding up the picture of the world, each piece sticky taped into the right position. Dad begins wondering whether he has a child prodigy on his hands. "How did you get it done so quickly?" he asks. "That would've taken me a good 20 minutes and I'm an adult." "Oh, it was easy daddy. On the back of the world was a picture of a person, so I put the person together and that's when the world came together."

How do we put our world together? How do we make sense of our world and find our way through it? Jesus-followers find that Jesus is the face on the other side of the puzzle. Because Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, and the head of the body, the church, he enables us to make sense of life and our world—finding a life forever changed.

Listening in on the prayers of Paul for the Colossians fills us with praise and thanksgiving. Nothing has been left out. All that we need is offered to us in Jesus. If we can comprehend what is ours, we can get our heads straight about life and all its questions. What’s in our heads will control what’s in our hearts. We turn our attention to this truth in our next message. Amen!

Next Week’s Reading: Colossians 1:19-29

Colossae was written by Paul in Rome from prison

It was written around AD 60-62

The city of Colossae has never been excavated, so there are no city maps or pieces of pottery to show you. The city lies under a giant mound in Turkey.

Colossae was an important city of Phrygia, mentioned by Herodotus in his Histories.

The book of Colossians and the book of Philemon were written together and probably traveled with the same courier. If you look at both books, the same people are even addressed and mentioned. Aristarchus, Mark, Demas, Epaphras, Luke, Archippus and the slave Onesimus.

The church of Colossae had probably been founded by Epaphras who had been one of Paul’s students.

It is 11 miles south and east of Laodecia and 15 miles southeast of Hieropolis in the Lycus river valley, which was a very important trade route established from Persia to Ephesus. Three important cities were there, Colossae, Laodicea and Hierapolis. They were all famous for their high quality cloth which was dyed and washed in the mineral waters of the river. The city was most known for its red dye which was called “colossinus” which is a “rust” - the color of the cyclamen flower.

Colossae is right on the banks of the river at the foot of Mt. Cadmus more than 9 thousand feet above sea level. Colossae had the advantage of being in the fertile valley and near the clear water that came from the mountain down to the river, so Colossae was also rich in agriculture. The mixtures of backgrounds made the city an interesting cultural
center where all sorts of new ideas and doctrines from the East were discussed and considered.

Colossae was also a religious city. They worshiped Demeter “Mother Earth” (the goddess of grain “daily bread” and fertility “motherhood”) and Zeus/Jupiter (the king of the Gods) and Artemis/Diana (another fertility goddess and possibly the most popular God in Asia. Her temple in Ephesus was considered one of the 7 wonders of the world). But because of the large Jewish culture there, Christianity spread rapidly, although it seems from the book of Colossae that Paul had never visited there, although he intended to upon his release.

Around the time Paul is writing this from prison in Rome, the city of Hierapolis had been destroyed in a huge earthquake. And this is the second time, this city has been destroyed by earthquake. Hierapolis was famous for its huge baths and marble structures – but both times the city was rebuilt by Rome. This made the people skeptical about “ancient Gods” and gave more credence to “Emperor worship” from Rome. The roman emperor at this time is Nero.

Paul writes this letter to this church to combat false teaching, possibly brought about by the pagan cults of the city. The town fell into decay (possibly due to another earthquake), and the Byzantine town of Chonas/Chonum occupied a site near its ruins.

We probably don't remember the name Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin, nor should we. But in his day he was as powerful as any man on earth. A Russian Communist leader, Bukharin took part in the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. He was the editor of the Soviet newspaper Pravda, and a powerful member of the Politburo. His works on economics and political science are still read today. There's a story told about a journey he took from Moscow to Kiev in 1930 to address a huge assembly on the subject of atheism. Addressing the crowd he aimed his heavy artillery at Christianity hurling insult, argument, and proof against it.

An hour later he had finished his attack against Christ and Christianity. He looked out at what seemed to be the smoldering ashes of men's faith in front of him. "Are there any questions?" Bukharin demanded sternly of his audience. A deafening silence filled the auditorium. Just before the prolonged silence was ready to proclaim atheism the winner, one man meekly approached the platform and stood up to the podium next to the communist leader. He surveyed the crowd, first looking to the left then to the right. Then he shouted the well-known ancient greeting within the Russian Orthodox Church: "CHRIST IS RISEN!" His confession of faith broke the intimidating silence. And then a remarkable thing happened. En masse the whole auditorium rose to its feet and as one voice their response reverberated like thunder: "HE IS RISEN INDEED!"

This happy Easter morning Jesus-followers everywhere unite in worship around the world to declare with the same courage and conviction, "Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!" The Holy Scriptures tell us,

"Jesus Christ [is] declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead!" --Romans 1:4

Our cause for joy is that every claim Jesus made about himself, and every truth he taught, has been proven true by his resurrection. Jesus' resurrection validates his divinity, and it vindicates what he did upon the cross to save us. For he has risen, just as he said he would. Jesus' resurrection veritably shouts that he is the way, the truth, and the life. Whether the world believes it or not, does nothing to lessen this powerful reality, that Jesus Christ -- Son of God and son of man –

"...was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification." --Romans 4:25

Jesus' victory over death ushers in a new age of hope for sinners, giving us the certainty of a forgiven, unending, and perfected life beyond the grave, and peace with God now, and one day in heaven! As sinners however we are far better equipped to doubt than we are to hope in this reality. This is because our hope comes from the Spirit of God, while despair comes from our own doubting spirit and sinful nature.

And so we must ask ourselves, though the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a powerful reality, is it a powerful reality in our lives? Are we really living life in the confidence that “Christ is risen indeed'?" For if we are, then we have to know that his resurrection changes everything. It changes the way we live and die, and it changes everything in between!

Not only do we approach life and death differently, but also from this Easter day forward, our faith is determined to look at everything and everyone differently with “eyes of faith” than we did before we had faith in the resurrection. Paul explains how the resurrection had changed his perspective on everything and everyone saying, "So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer!" [2 Corinthians 5:16]

Eyes of Flesh vs. Eyes of Faith

Paul is reminding us that what we once saw through eyes of flesh, we now see through “eyes of faith.” Each day of our lives we have the option: choose to live with eyes of flesh or eyes of faith. What before the resurrection of our Lord seemed impossible, is now, not only possible or even probable, now it is certain because of Christ. Easter proves that the Lord Jesus Christ has the power to do anything -- including the power to forgive sins, create faith, raise the dead, and grant eternal life! And yet we too easily and too often forget that this same power that raised Jesus Christ is also available and at work in our lives today.

Being Easter, the message is of course about our Lord's resurrection. Yet it's not only about his resurrection, but it's also about how the Spirit of the living Christ is able to resurrect our cold and lifeless hearts to a living hope and a vibrant faith! Faith calls us to believe that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life, promising that whoever lives and believes in him will never die! While few ever forget the message of Easter, many of us will periodically forget its power to bring joy and confidence to our hearts and lives.

Tragically, Jesus-followers sometimes live and act as if Christ had not risen at all. Sometimes we live as if we were still slaves to sin and to death.

We live as if advancing age and failing health held us captive, so that we grieve the loss of our youth and vigor.

We live as if we were running out of time, instead of as people with all of the time in the world. For we have been graciously destined to live with Christ for all time and eternity.

We live too much in fear and frustration, and too little by faith.

We live in despair over our life's circumstances in a way that contradicts the victory that Easter pronounces upon our lives.

As Jesus-followers living with faith in the resurrection, we are not to retreat or surrender our hope in the face of trials, adversities, illnesses, doubts, deaths, fears, or uncertainties. Faith in the risen Christ gives us a new confidence and the joy to meet the challenges of life and death. Hope's optimism and faith's confidence are resurrected in us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Let’s focus for a moment on our Easter text from God’s Word in John 20:11-18…

11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13 They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?" "They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15 He asked her, "Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him." 16 Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means "Teacher"). 17 Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' " 18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Because Jesus lives, we are people of hope looking forward with “eyes of faith” to the resurrection of our bodies and to the life of the world to come. Faith realizes that Jesus' victory over the grave has changed life for the Jesus-follower in dramatic new ways. Easter changes who we are, what we believe, how we live, and who and what we are living for.

• We can no longer hold on to our old sinful way of life.
• We can no longer live as if this life were an end in itself.
• We can no longer live to please ourselves, but we now live to serve the one who died and rose to set us free from the fear of death.

When faith becomes weak however, we become like Mary on Easter morning—standing outside of the empty tomb weeping. There are two very simple and yet very profound reasons why Mary first did not recognize Jesus with “eyes of faith.”

1. Mary could not see Jesus because of her distress.

Why was this woman so distressed? Why was Mary crying? With Scriptural hindsight we can look back and see that Mary should've been rejoicing on that first Easter morning. After all, her Lord was alive after having just defeated death for her! But Mary's doubt, fueled by grief, led her to the wrong assumption. Mary looked at the empty tomb as a problem, when the empty tomb is really the ultimate solution to all human problems!

2. Mary could not see Jesus because of her direction.

Why was this woman facing the wrong direction? For just like Mary, we too sometimes face the wrong direction in life. She could not take her eyes off the tomb and so she had her back to Jesus. We live in defeat, even though Jesus has won for us the forever victory! We fear only when we forget to live by the truth, that, "Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!" Mary feared because her own unbelief led her to assume that the body of Jesus had been stolen -- not raised. She attributed the miracle of the empty tomb to the natural causes of theft. At that moment Mary failed to live by the resurrection's power or its purpose.

We get into trouble like Mary whenever we assume that events in our lives happen randomly and by chance, or by natural causes. Instead we should be facing Jesus with “eyes of faith,” trusting that the divine power and purpose of the resurrected Christ is at work guiding our lives. Poor us when we think this way. Poor Mary. After reporting her news to Peter and the other disciples, Mary stands outside the tomb sobbing and facing the wrong direction, saddened by the assumption that her Master who was dead is now also missing. Even when consoled by angels inside the tomb, Mary's unbelieving assumptions make her inconsolable. Her doubts will not allow her to receive God's comfort from the gospel.

Whenever we forget the centrality of the cross and the victory of Jesus' resurrection in our lives we too become inconsolable. Whenever we forget to look at life through “eyes of faith” in his cross and resurrection we begin to attribute events in our lives to natural causes and to random chance, and we're quickly saddened by these fatalistic assumptions.

Faith made alive out of Easter must learn to confront the unbelief in us that still clings to our unbelieving nature.

• Are the events of our lives random and by chance? Or is our risen Lord working all things together for good in our lives?
• Will anything ever be able to separate us from God's love for us in Christ?
• Can anything happen to us that goes beyond God's control?
• Can things go terribly wrong in our lives?
  
• Or is the living and compassionate Christ Jesus who conquered death fully in control of our future?

If we believe that the same Jesus who died for us is now risen and in charge of all things visible and invisible, then what can go wrong, and why should we worry?

If the resurrected Christ has all authority in heaven and on earth, and he uses his power for us, then who can harm us, or what can ever go against us?

These are the assumptions of a living faith supplied by the proof and the power of Christ's resurrection. Our faith must not stop with the Jesus who died on the cross for us. Every faith assumption that Jesus-followers make—including the forgiveness of sins—all hinges and depends upon the historical fact of Jesus' real and bodily resurrection. And the Holy Spirit is always creating faith in us, by the hearing of the Word, convincing us of that resurrection. The Spirit is always reminding us of the joyous implications that Jesus' victory over death brings to our lives.

Shohoiya Yokowai spent 28 years of his life in prison. It was not time served in a prison with bars, locks, or armed guards, but in a self-imposed prison of fear. He was a Japanese soldier on the island of Guam during WWII. And when the American forces landed, he fled into the jungle and found a cave in which he hid for 28 years because he was afraid of being captured by the Americans. He learned that the war was over by reading one of the thousands of pamphlets dropped into the jungle. But he was afraid. So for 28 years he lived in a cave, coming out only at night to look for roaches and rats and frogs and mangoes on which he survived. Finally some natives found him and convinced him that it would be all right for him to come out of his jungle prison.

Mary's initial assumptions that Jesus' body had been stolen were keeping her in her own prison of fear. And we may suspect that many of us know or have known the invisible bars and the imaginary confinement of that prison called fear. But today the resurrection of our Lord is good news for those who have felt sentenced to that prison. The resurrection tells us that the war is over, that life has won out over death, and that we have been rescued, liberated from our captures -- sin, death, and the devil.

The Easter message tells us that our enemies, sin, the curse, and death, are beaten. Ultimately they can no longer start mischief. They still behave as though the game were not decided, the battle not fought; we must still reckon with them, but fundamentally we must cease to fear them any more. Karl Barth.

Closing Challenge

And so in order for our lifeless faith to be resurrected today, and in order to be liberated from our prison of fear we must depend upon these faith assertions like our lungs depend upon air, or like our bodies depend upon food and water. We must believe that the same power of God that brought his Son back to life is also powerfully at work in our lives. No more will we see life as the chaotic product of fate, evolution, or chance. But we will see his resurrection power as the power that lives and is at work in us!

Let’s listen to the words spoken by Mary one more time from our “eyes of faith” presentation: “An angel! But it wasn’t my eyes that convinced me. I knew it in my heart. I was beginning to understand. I was beginning to see with my heart…with the eyes of faith! Jesus had healed another blind person! My Redeemer was alive!

At first, Mary failed to recognize Jesus when he spoke to her at the tomb. In her distress and doubt she mistook him for the gardener. However, when Mary finally looked through “eyes of faith” she perceived the eternal landscape of her life and proclaimed, “I have seen the Lord!" So we dry our eyes and we face an empty tomb. We then also shout with strong conviction on this Resurrection Sunday, "Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!" Amen.

Through Eyes Of Faith
"Sorrow looks back, worry looks
around, and faith looks up."

I want to really live my life,
Without regret or sorrow.
That in the midst of stress and strife,
I'll always see a bright tomorrow.

For sorrow's always looking back,
Sees only things that might have been.
Regret "accentuates" my lack,
Points out my failure and my sin.

I must forget what lies behind,
Press on to heaven's highest goal.
Beyond each cloud I'm sure to find,
A refuge for my "battered" soul.

I want to really live each day,
Free from worry, fret, and care.
When tests and trials come my way,
I'll take them to the Lord in prayer.

For worry always looks around,
Sees only life's dark angry wave.
Keeps mind and soul and spirit bound,
In "desperation's" hopeless grave.

I'll set my mind on things above,
Look not on what is sure to fail.
I'll trust His mercy, grace and love,
He'll guide me safe thru each dark vale.

I want to really live for God,
A life of faith and simple trust.
A life that's free from all "façade”,
A life that's holy, pure and just.

For faith is always looking up,
It looks beyond what we can see.
Drinks deep from "expectation's" cup,
And sets the "blinded captive" free.

Through eyes of faith I'll live each day,
All else is naught but sinking sand.
God's Holy Word will light my way,
He'll lead me with His Mighty Hand.
© by Ken Hammack

Life-lines, wealth-lines, health-lines, love-lines—all the answers visibly lay in the pierced palms of Jesus-followers’ palm pilot—the crucified Christ.

Along the worn, dreary streets of well-used, run-down neighborhoods we can usually find a window with an outstretched palm painted on it, advertising expert palmistry -- or palm reading-services. In some cities, such stores have gone upscale: they're now even found on Main Street in the heart of our cities.

Reading the spidery signature of lines, swirls, and creases that crisscross the palms of the hands have an ancient history. People seek answers to such questions as

"Where are we going?"

"What lies in the future?"

"How long will I live?"

"What will life bring my way?"

"What's the future of this relationship?"

Palm readers claim to be able to discern answers by studying our palms. Life-lines, wealth lines, health lines, love lines, success, family -- all the answers lay in the palms of our hands. "Believers" take their palm predictions seriously. More people than we care to admit actually make life decision in investments, relationships, travel plans, and career choices, based on what the palm reader sees as the destiny printed in their palm.

Fortuneteller, gazing into crystal ball, to frog: You are going to meet a beautiful young woman. From the moment she sets eyes on you she will have an insatiable desire to know all about you. She will be compelled to get close to you--you'll fascinate her." Frog: "Where am I? At a singles club?" Fortuneteller: "Biology class."

Jesus-followers don't look to our palms for answers to where we're going or what we should be doing. Still, we have a need to organize life and know what's next. It's the reason so many of us are now electronically wired -- cell phones glued to our ears, brief-bags bulging with palm pilots that detail and organize every moment of our existence.

Now cell phones equipped with palm pilot capabilities have become the electronic guidebook, calendar, and brains for busy, multi-tasking lives. With palm pilot firmly clutched, poking and prodding its screen surface with a sharp, efficient stylus, we can find out names, numbers, times, dates, and directions. Palm pilots guide us through our days and keep us on track. A well-maintained palm pilot gives us a sense of control, of progressing. A palm pilot is a real pilot -- guiding us through schedules so varied and harried that we could never navigate the way on our own.

But palm pilots are small, delicate, tricky things. They can be left on a restaurant dining table or easily stolen from an overcoat pocket. Those perfect little stylus pens can seem to drop into black holes the moment you reach for them. Worst of all, our electronic brain, our life in a little black box, can fry a few silicon chips and turn our future into incomprehensible, blinking blips or a just a big blank screen. Trusting the plot of our future to such a fragile pilot is asking for trouble.

Let us discover the only reliable Palm Pilot through the following narrative of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry. “The throngs in Jerusalem for the annual festival pressed closer to catch a glimpse. The miracle-man was coming! The one who made deaf ears hear, blind eyes see, and crippled legs walk. Rumor had it that he had even raised the dead! Word spread quickly. The crowd thickened. Jesus mounted a young donkey to avoid being crushed.

Children began to wave palm leaves and admirers carpeted the road with cloaks in an impromptu victory parade. They shouted. They cheered. They sang. And then a woman began to chant. It wasn’t long before the whole crowd reverberated with her refrain: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!”

Jesus glanced down at his disciples. They were basking in the moment. Victory was sweet. Little did they know it would be won at bitter cost. He was the King of Israel. He had come in the name of the Lord. But the crowds were fickle. In a few days they would abandon him. In the end he would battle alone…rejected, scorned, brutalized, and bloodied. Thus – and not through the recognition and accolades of the masses – would he secure the victory… and triumph.”

In our Scripture reading, Jesus moves ahead in his mission and in his movements toward Jerusalem in Luke 19:28-40…

28 After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30 "Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' say, 'The Lord needs it.'” 32 Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?" 34 They replied, "The Lord needs it."

35 They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36 As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. 37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: 38 "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" 40 "I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."

We can observe in these verses the preparation for Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Jesus now takes charge of all the details. He organizes all the actions that will accompany him into the city. Before Palm Sunday Jesus is creatively, spontaneously responding to those who would seek him out, to those who would question his message. But from Palm Sunday onward, Jesus is clearly in charge. Jesus in his mind and will takes charge. Jesus completes the journey toward Jerusalem to which Luke referred to ten chapters earlier. Jesus’ face resolutely turned toward Jerusalem and the future that awaits him there.

As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. Luke 9:51.

Here Comes the King!

The coming of the King reveals the truth that Jesus himself pilots his course into the holy city. He pilots his time before Pilate, and pilots the events during Passion Week that would change the world forever. The clarity of his mission and vision enables Jesus to call the shots and follow through without hesitation.

This Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem not only demonstrates his love and compassion, but also validates his message of redemption and resurrection.

Jesus comes with a plan

28 After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30 "Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' say, 'The Lord needs it.'” 32 Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?" 34 They replied, "The Lord needs it."

Jesus is working from a predetermined plan. What's most startling and what signals most clearly the start of a new chapter in Jesus' mission is the careful scripting of this episode by Jesus himself. Instead of spontaneously responding to the questions and needs of the crowds around him, Jesus now carefully orchestrates the details of his arrival into Jerusalem

Typical of Luke's careful plotting, the final steps in Jesus' journey into Jerusalem are precisely choreographed. In fact, Jesus is at most a scant five miles outside Jerusalem at the start of today's text (in Bethany and Bethphage). This journey is geographically precise: Jesus is moving from the communities of Bethany and Bethphage on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, over the summit, and then down the western slope into the holy city of Jerusalem.

Jesus organizes all the actions that will accompany him into the city. He sends out disciples to obtain a colt for him to ride. He tells them not only where they will find the animal but exactly what to say to the colt's owners so that they'll be allowed to take it without incident. He chooses a colt to ride because of his awareness of Old Testament prophecy in Zechariah 9:9… “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! See your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” It also points to the way Jesus chooses to work, even today.

There are times when our predetermined plans go sky high. In 1982 a Californian truck driver fulfilled a life-long ambition. He'd always wanted to go up into the clear blue sky via a weather balloon. And so, one morning he set about fulfilling his dream. Larry collected 42 weather balloons, filled them with helium, and tied them to a silver garden chair. He got some friends to cut the rope holding his chair to the ground and up he went - up, up and up! In fact Larry reached 16,000 feet, right up into airspace and was reported by airline pilots who saw his crazy stunt from their planes! Now Larry had not expected to go so high. He issued a mayday call over the radio he'd taken up with him and promptly instituted his strategy for a return to earth. Yes, Larry not only had a plan for getting up into the sky, he also had a plan for getting down - a BB gun with him. Using water bottles as counterweights, he shot out enough balloons until he started descending. He eventually made it back to earth, or at least to a set of power lines where he managed to dangle thirty feet off the ground and create a black out of parts of Long Beach. When asked about his crazy adventure Larry said "Since I was 13 years old, I've dreamed of going up into the clear blue sky in a weather balloon," he said. "By the grace of God, I fulfilled my dream. But I wouldn't do this again for anything." Was he scared? "Yes" Why'd he do it? "Well you just can't sit there!"

We as Jesus-followers are needed by the Lord. It is his chosen way of working. We enter into the Jerusalem (centers of power) of our day with Jesus to do his work and his will. No Jesus-follower should ever forget the importance of faithfulness in small things. Like the disciples, we should be ready at any time to obey Jesus’ every command. But we must be careful that our “sky high” plans are in keeping with the Lord’s plans.

Wise Solomon wrote…

Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. Proverbs 16:3.

Jesus comes with a procession

35 They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. 37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: 38 "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" 40 "I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."

The crowd's response to Jesus' mounted entry into the city is accompanied by the royal proclamations and acclamations that his ride demanded of them. There were basically two crowds that merged together to welcome Jesus into Jerusalem that day. It is important to realize that while there was certainly an emotional element in this celebration parade (as with any joyful occasion), this was not merely a thrill-seeking crowd that found a diversion or a good show.

Some of the people were there praising Jesus and worshiping him as having come from God because they had heard his teaching and had been present as he healed the sick and raised the dead. These were the closer followers of Jesus who walked with him into Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives.

The thrill-seeking crowd that welcomed Jesus came from Jerusalem because they were in the city for the annual festival. So being stirred to praise and worship by valid firsthand experience is not the same as allowing oneself to be carried away by the emotion of crowd mentality.

This understanding of the two crowds is important for Jesus-followers to understand. It is often tempting today to become part of the thrill-seeking crowd. We want Jesus to perform miracles, put on a show or even perhaps wipe out the enemies in our lives with the power given to him by his Father. We must overcome this worldly temptation and identify with the crowd that followed Jesus because we have experienced firsthand faith in Jesus as the coming Messiah, the anointed One of God.

I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. -- C.S. Lewis.

Next, we can observe the people’s cry of joy as an echo of Psalm 118:26...

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

Recognizing Jesus’ mission, the crowd spontaneously sang their praise in the words of Scripture. Accompanying the cry of joy was the waving of palm branches. Our narrative from Luke’s perspective is written by and for Gentiles, thus the gospel omits certain Jewish details like the palm leaves waved at Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem. For the Jewish community, the waving palms were linked both with kingly processionals and especially with the Festival of Tabernacles. But even without palm branches, Luke makes Jesus' formal entry into Jerusalem a regal and revealing moment.

I have never forgotten that Daystar [sometimes used as a reference to Lucifer] began his Great Insurrection by frowning and skipping his morning Alleluias. It must have seemed minor at the time, but hell grows out of paradise gone sour. Joy is a discipline and fallen angels were always those who grew negligent with their praise. –Calvin Miller.

So enter the Pharisees. They lacked so much joy in their lives; they must have been eating oatmeal for breakfast seven days a week with no brown sugar! They wanted to keep a watchful eye on a potential troublemaker. They demanded that Jesus rebuke and quiet the crowd. When these sour religious leaders addressed Jesus, they used the word “teacher”—a safe term, devoid of any sense of divinity or claim of Messiah ship. They apparently were careful not to give Jesus even the status of a prophet. They wanted to make their stand concerning his religious authority quite clear.

Jesus rejects the Pharisees' demand for his disciples' silence and points to the witness of all creation, of heaven and earth, to the truth of his identity. Jesus' kingship, his messianic identity, is no longer a secret. Instead it is announced to the heavens by this procession and proclamation.

Jesus’ response indicates that a power so great was at work in their situation that if all the people were to be mute, even stones would break forth in praise. This was the final blow to the Pharisee’s patience. We hear no more of them until we find them plotting to have Jesus arrested and killed.

On this Palm Sunday Jesus wants to be our palm pilot. Jesus wants to organize our lives, and direct our steps. Jesus wants to be the organizing presence of our existence. So we go ahead and use those handheld theaters we call palm pilots. But what organizes the organizer? What pilots the pilot?

When Jesus is our Palm Pilot, and when our lives are being organized and chartered according to the love-lines in his palms…

"WHERE we are (however unchosen) is the place of blessing."

"HOW we are (however broken) is the place of grace."

"WHO we are, (however barren) is our place in the kingdom."

Let us follow Jesus, the Palm Pilot of our lives. Let us trust the one who brings us hope. Life-lines, wealth-lines, health-lines, love-lines—all the answers visibly lay in the pierced palms of our crucified Christ. Let us receive Holy Communion on this Palm Sunday guided by the new lifeline -- the life and love of Jesus the Christ who died on the cross of Calvary for our rescue and renewal. Amen!