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"Jesus saw himself as the 'Suffering Servant'”
Tuesday, 5 September 2017
Isaiah 53:4 In fact, it was our diseases he bore,
our pains from which he suffered;
yet we regarded him as punished,
stricken and afflicted by God.
5 But he was wounded because of our crimes,
crushed because of our sins;
the disciplining that makes us whole fell on him,
and by his bruises* we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, went astray;
we turned, each one, to his own way;
yet Adonai laid on him
the guilt of all of us.
7 Though mistreated, he was submissive —
he did not open his mouth.
Like a lamb led to be slaughtered,
like a sheep silent before its shearers,
he did not open his mouth., Matthew 21:33 “Now listen to another parable. There was a farmer who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower; then he rented it to tenants and left. 34 When harvest-time came, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of the crop. 35 But the tenants seized his servants — this one they beat up, that one they killed, another they stoned. 36 So he sent some other servants, more than the first group, and they did the same to them. 37 Finally, he sent them his son, saying, ‘My son they will respect.’ 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance!’ 39 So they grabbed him, threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 They answered him, “He will viciously destroy those vicious men and rent out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his share of the crop when it’s due.” 42 Yeshua said to them, “Haven’t you ever read in the Tanakh,
‘The very rock which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone!
This has come from Adonai,
and in our eyes it is amazing’?[Matthew 21:42 Psalm 118:22–23]
43 Therefore, I tell you that the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to the kind of people that will produce its fruit!” 44 [Matthew 21:44 Some manuscripts include verse 44: Whoever falls on this stone will be broken in pieces; but if it falls on him, he will be crushed to powder!”]
45 As the head cohanim and the P’rushim listened to his stories, they saw that he was speaking about them., Luke 22:31 “Shim‘on, Shim‘on, listen! The Adversary demanded to have you people for himself, to sift you like wheat! 32 But I prayed for you, Shim‘on, that your trust might not fail. And you, once you have turned back in repentance, strengthen your brothers!” 33 Shim‘on said to him, “Lord, I am prepared to go with you both to prison and to death!” 34 Yeshua replied, “I tell you, Kefa, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know me.”
35 He said to them, “When I sent you out without wallet, pack or shoes, were you ever short of anything?” “Not a thing,” they answered. 36 “But now,” he said, if you have a wallet or a pack, take it; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your robe to buy one. 37 For I tell you this: the passage from the Tanakh that says, ‘He was counted with transgressors,’[Luke 22:37 Isaiah 53:12 ] has to be fulfilled in me; since what is happening to me has a purpose.”
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our pains from which he suffered;
yet we regarded him as punished,
stricken and afflicted by God.
5 But he was wounded because of our crimes,
crushed because of our sins;
the disciplining that makes us whole fell on him,
and by his bruises* we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, went astray;
we turned, each one, to his own way;
yet Adonai laid on him
the guilt of all of us.
7 Though mistreated, he was submissive —
he did not open his mouth.
Like a lamb led to be slaughtered,
like a sheep silent before its shearers,
he did not open his mouth., Matthew 21:33 “Now listen to another parable. There was a farmer who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower; then he rented it to tenants and left. 34 When harvest-time came, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of the crop. 35 But the tenants seized his servants — this one they beat up, that one they killed, another they stoned. 36 So he sent some other servants, more than the first group, and they did the same to them. 37 Finally, he sent them his son, saying, ‘My son they will respect.’ 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance!’ 39 So they grabbed him, threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 They answered him, “He will viciously destroy those vicious men and rent out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his share of the crop when it’s due.” 42 Yeshua said to them, “Haven’t you ever read in the Tanakh,
‘The very rock which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone!
This has come from Adonai,
and in our eyes it is amazing’?[Matthew 21:42 Psalm 118:22–23]
43 Therefore, I tell you that the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to the kind of people that will produce its fruit!” 44 [Matthew 21:44 Some manuscripts include verse 44: Whoever falls on this stone will be broken in pieces; but if it falls on him, he will be crushed to powder!”]
45 As the head cohanim and the P’rushim listened to his stories, they saw that he was speaking about them., Luke 22:31 “Shim‘on, Shim‘on, listen! The Adversary demanded to have you people for himself, to sift you like wheat! 32 But I prayed for you, Shim‘on, that your trust might not fail. And you, once you have turned back in repentance, strengthen your brothers!” 33 Shim‘on said to him, “Lord, I am prepared to go with you both to prison and to death!” 34 Yeshua replied, “I tell you, Kefa, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know me.”
35 He said to them, “When I sent you out without wallet, pack or shoes, were you ever short of anything?” “Not a thing,” they answered. 36 “But now,” he said, if you have a wallet or a pack, take it; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your robe to buy one. 37 For I tell you this: the passage from the Tanakh that says, ‘He was counted with transgressors,’[Luke 22:37 Isaiah 53:12 ] has to be fulfilled in me; since what is happening to me has a purpose.”
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Jesus applied words from Isaiah 53 to himself in Luke 22:37. The New Testament writers took his cue and quoted Isaiah 53 more than any other verses to explain Jesus’ redemptive suffering. Jesus, they said, took the world’s evil and hatred onto himself and, through what human eyes saw as a failure, changed it into a saving force. Jesus used the image of “God’s vineyard” (from Isaiah 5:1-7) for a grim story about tenants who killed the owner’s son. Matthew said the religious leaders plotting to kill Jesus “knew Jesus was talking about them.”
• “God’s power is at its greatest not in his destruction of the wicked but in his taking all the wickedness of the earth into himself and giving back love.” * What does Jesus’ way of defeating evil as the Suffering Servant tell you about how God’s power works? What kinds of evil have you faced? How can Jesus’ example guide you toward the path of genuine success at those times?
• Those who heard Jesus’ vineyard story pronounced sentence—on themselves. Today, it’s easy for us to look down on those religious leaders. They heard God in the flesh tell that vivid story, knew he was talking about them, but still refused to submit to his calling. But ask yourself: to what extent are you willing to trust and submit your life to Jesus? What people and experiences have shaped, either positively or negatively, your willingness to respond to Jesus?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me keep growing into a faithful, responsive servant in your vineyard. Let me bear a rich harvest, not for my glory but for yours. Amen.
* T. Desmond Alexander and Brian S. Rosner, ed. The New Dictionary of Biblical Theology. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000, p. 222.
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Denise Mersmann
Denise serves as the Early Childhood Coordinating Assistant at Church of the Resurrection.
As Christians, setting aside our own agenda and submitting ourselves to God’s will seems like a simple decision. God only wants what’s best for us, He gave His Son to take on our sins and has a greater plan for our lives than we can imagine. Without a doubt, God wants only the very best for us.
Yet time and again, when given the choice between doing God’s will and doing what appeals to our human nature, we find ourselves choosing to satisfy our desires. In most cases, those decisions are not big life changing choices. Many of them don’t really impact the course of our lives. Or do they?
What impact do those little choices really have on our relationship with God? Does it matter if we allow ourselves to overlook God’s will to do what will make us happy? I think it does. In fact, I think it’s so important that when Jesus showed us how to pray He included the instruction, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” If, out of all the things he could have put in that short prayer, he included the direction to do his will on earth, maybe we should put everything we have into doing just that.
Denise MersmannDenise serves as the Early Childhood Coordinating Assistant at Church of the Resurrection.
As Christians, setting aside our own agenda and submitting ourselves to God’s will seems like a simple decision. God only wants what’s best for us, He gave His Son to take on our sins and has a greater plan for our lives than we can imagine. Without a doubt, God wants only the very best for us.
Yet time and again, when given the choice between doing God’s will and doing what appeals to our human nature, we find ourselves choosing to satisfy our desires. In most cases, those decisions are not big life changing choices. Many of them don’t really impact the course of our lives. Or do they?
What impact do those little choices really have on our relationship with God? Does it matter if we allow ourselves to overlook God’s will to do what will make us happy? I think it does. In fact, I think it’s so important that when Jesus showed us how to pray He included the instruction, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” If, out of all the things he could have put in that short prayer, he included the direction to do his will on earth, maybe we should put everything we have into doing just that.
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"Peter’s bold statement of faith"
Wednesday, 6 September 2017
Matthew 16:13-20
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People had many opinions about Jesus. The disciples’ answer to his question (“Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the other prophets”) was an effort to be “positive.” They knew that some hated Jesus and bitterly opposed his message. Though his faith might be costly, Peter boldly said: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Remember: “Christ” was not Jesus’ last name, but the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word “Messiah.”)
• To identify Jesus as “John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the other prophets” was no insult. Those were great, respected names. Yet they fell short of what Peter, speaking for the disciples, saw in Jesus. To what extent can you join Peter in declaring that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God”? What factors shape what you believe about Jesus?
• Protestants and Roman Catholics have long debated whether the “rock” on which Jesus built his church was Peter the person, or Peter’s faith in Jesus as Messiah. Scholar A. F. Walls wrote, “Even if it could be shown that Roman bishops are in any meaningful sense the successors of Peter (which it cannot), the passage does not allow for the transfer of its provisions to any successors whatever. It refers to the foundation of the church, which cannot be repeated.” * In what ways are you (and all Christians) Peter’s successors? In what ways was his role unique and foundational?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, today you ask me, “Who do you say that I am?” Give me Peter’s conviction and courage to say, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Amen.
* A. F. Walls, “Peter” in The New Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, J. D. Douglas and D. R. W. Wood, ed. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996, p. 907.
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"Peter the Rock became a stumbling rock"
Thursday, 7 September 2017
Matthew 16:21-23
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When Jesus told his closest followers that he faced suffering and death, Peter (outspoken as usual) tried to talk Jesus out of the idea. Perhaps he thought Jesus was just a little down, being too negative. Or maybe he was fending off the fear in his own heart as he saw the religious leaders’ strong negative response to Jesus. Regardless, Jesus pushed back forcefully, telling “the Rock,” “You are a stone that could make me stumble.”
• Peter, like almost all first-century Jews, expected a conquering Messiah, a figure of intimidating power. That made it hard for him to grasp Jesus’ understanding of his self-sacrificing mission. What assumptions about life, success and greatness do you have that make it harder for you to accept Jesus’ teaching about a truly great human life? What has helped you move beyond those inherited cultural assumptions?
• In the fourth century, when the Roman emperor Constantine became a Christian, he transformed the faith into a source he credited with his worldly success or power. We see the same urge surface in some Christian ministries today. In what ways in a prosperous, tolerant first world setting does Jesus still call us to accept his teaching about his suffering and death, rather than pushing it away as “too negative”? How can we honor the divine principle Jesus held to that led him to rebuke Peter?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, transform my mind and heart so that I see life as you do. Give me the inner strength to follow and trust you, so that I can pray, with Julian of Norwich, “All shall be well… and all manner of thing shall be well.” Amen.
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"Jesus’ words when no one wore a cross necklace"
Friday, 8 September 2017
Matthew 16:24-28
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Peter’s rebuke didn’t lead Jesus to back away from his seemingly downbeat talk about suffering and death in Jerusalem. Far from it. Jesus “doubled down,” saying that he calls ALL his followers to “take their cross.” Don’t forget: when Jesus said this, no one sold “cross” jewelry. A cross was a horrific implement of torture and death, a thing “respectable” people avoided at all costs. Pastor John Ortberg quoted columnist Garret Fiddler as writing, “Really, the cross does not belong on the Christian; the Christian belongs on the cross.” Ortberg added, “The cross is a reminder that there is something in me that needs to die.” *
• Jesus asked what the point would be of gaining earthly wealth or prestige in a way that cost eternity. “Why would people gain the whole world but lose their lives?” Today, virtually no one anywhere dies on a cross. So what do you believe it means for you to “take up your cross” and follow Jesus? What is there in you that “needs to die”? In your journey with Christ so far, have you had to decide whether to “take up your cross” in any life-shaping way? In what ways are you asking God to help you more clearly understand and commit to finding your true life by losing it? In what ways has Jesus already showed you your true self as you follow him?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, so many voices tell me that avoiding pain and sacrifice is the way to a good life. Give me a clear vision of your counter-cultural call. Let my lesser self die, so that a greater self shaped by you may be born. Amen.
* Garret Fiddler, Yale Daily News, April 21, 2011 quoted in John Ortberg, Who Is This Man? Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012, p. 192
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"Peter ('Rock')—a genuine servant-leader"
Saturday, 9 September 2017
Acts 2:12-16, 15:7-8, 13-14, Galatians 2:7-12
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We’ll return to Peter’s later life in more detail in this series’ last sermon. But this peek ahead shows us the kind of leader Peter became. He let Jesus shape his bold, outspoken nature into a compelling preacher, bravely declaring the power of the crucified and risen Jesus. He forcefully spoke out on behalf of the legitimacy of Gentile believers, whom he had seen receive God’s Holy Spirit without conforming to all Jewish regulations. But he also accepted James (Jesus’ brother) presiding over the Jerusalem conference. He welcomed Paul to the ranks of apostles, and agreed to focus his mission in a way that didn’t conflict with Paul’s. We hear and read a lot about “servant leaders.” We see Peter living out that kind of leadership.
• Would Peter have been a stronger, more worthy leader if he had required James to step aside and allow him to preside over the Jerusalem conference? If he had told Paul, “You weren’t there when Jesus said I was the rock on which he’d build his church. I will preach wherever and to whomever I please. You will just have to adjust your work to that”? In whatever leadership areas you have, from the largest business or church settings to the smallest, homeiest ones, how can you emulate Peter’s confident and humble model of leadership? Which aspects of Peter’s example are hardest for you to live out?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, when I need rebuke, make me as willing as Peter was to accept it. But when I need to stand firmly for you, give me his courage and boldness. Amen.
Family Activity: Invite each family member to share the name and special qualities of their favorite teacher. Remind everyone that Jesus was a teacher who spent much of his time helping others learn about God and God’s kingdom. As a family, talk about ways you are teachers of God and God’s ways. How do you teach with words, telling others about God and his love? How do you teach with your actions as you serve other people? Maybe you teach others about God by being kind, patient, generous, or a good listener. Commit to intentionally teaching someone about God’s love this week. Share your stories and experiences with your family. Write a note to your favorite teacher thanking her/him for being so important to you. Pray for one another and for all teachers to share patience, kindness and love with everyone.
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Prayer Requests – cor.org/prayer Prayers for Peace & Comfort for:
•Dick Walker and family on the death of his daughter-in-law Stacy Walker, 8/30
•Tom McCabe and family on the death of his mother Margaret McCabe, 8/29
•Colleen Aegerter and family on the death of her sister Cindi Hutchinson, 8/26
• Linda Reppell and family on the death of her brother-in-law Loren Martin, 8/19
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©2017 Church of the Resurrection. All Rights Reserved.
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
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©2017 Church of the Resurrection. All Rights Reserved.
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
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