"The Sky Grows Darker Yet"
Remember: GOD WINS!
Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling
Sunday, April 13, 2003
Text: Luke 22:66-23:5
There is a true account of Will Rogers one day looking at the state of his stage performance and realizing that he needed to make some improvements. So he gathered a number of his friends and colleagues together and asked for their advice and guidance. His friend Eddie Cantor stepped forward (he had watched his friend's show very carefully) and said: "If you don't go out on a limb, you'll never be able to bear fruit, for that's where the fruit is: on the limb."
Wise advice for those who are cautious, for those who don't want to make drastic changes in their lives or for those who have become complacent. I think that this morning, as we begin Holy Week, that Jesus of Nazareth went out on a limb both figuratively and literally. He went out on a limb figuratively because He was willing to risk everything for the sake of the reign of God. He was willing to lay down His life, to take the boldest step that any human being could ever take. He knew that He would have to go out on a limb if fruit was to be borne.
Literally He did exactly that. When they nailed Jesus to a cross on that Good Friday, He went out on a limb to bear fruit for the rest of the world.
As I look at this brave move of Jesus Christ, it appears to me that there were many forces massed against Him, many for whom He had to go out on a limb to expose for what they truly were. For as I look at the way Luke tells this magnificent story in his Gospel, you can see that there were three different groups that didn't want Jesus to go out on a limb. They didn't want Him to risk everything. On the contrary, they wanted Jesus to do what they wanted.
The first group, Luke tells us, was the Sanhedrin. They wanted to incriminate Jesus. They wanted Him to be blasphemous, to say something by which they could indict Him. The second was Pilate and the Romans. They wanted to incriminate Jesus as an insurrectionist, as a challenge to Caesar, as someone who was going to overthrow the powers that be - a rabble-rouser - someone that they could accuse of being seditious. The third was Herod and the monarchy. They wanted to incriminate Jesus by embarrassing Him, by making a fool of Him, by getting Him to reveal Himself as the poseur rather than the true monarch. And so, the Sanhedrin and Pilate and Herod, all of them together wanted Jesus to fail - they wanted it badly - and to deal with them He had to go out on a limb.
When I think of the mood when Jesus appeared before these three bodies, my mind turns to a wonderful sermon preached by the great Trevor Huddleston in South Africa in the 1960s. In it he quoted from "The Ballad of the White Horse" by G.K. Chesterton. I can't help but think that as Jesus took on these three great enemies, these words from that poem could not have been more true:
"I tell you naught for your comfort
Yea, naught for your desire,
Save the sky grows darker yet,
and the sea rises higher."
For Jesus the sea was rising higher, the skies were becoming darker and He had to confront the forces of darkness. If I'd been around at that time, I might have given Him some pretty good advice on how to deal with Pilate, the Sanhedrin and Herod. I've often thought I would write it down: "Andy's advice for the Son of God."
I probably would have told Him that if He were to take on the Sanhedrin He would need to sharpen His theological sword, that He could show just how much in error these so-called religious leaders were. He could use the authority of someone like Isaiah - a great prophet, a great theologian - to show that the Sanhedrin missed the signs of the coming of the Son of Man, that they had missed the arrival of the Messiah.
Oh, if only Jesus had written a good book defending the theological position that He had taken, and quoted from the great Isaiah. That would have put the members of the Sanhedrin in their place, don't you think?
Or maybe before Pilate, He would have used military force. He would have been able to cause an insurrection and use the power of the people there in Israel. Oh, indeed, He could have borrowed from the great Gideon, he could have brought wonderful news from Joshua. All He needed to do was walk around Pilate seven times and Pilate would have fallen down. That's all Jesus needed to do: use some good solid military force as had been used in the past - it's biblical.
To deal with Herod he could have used the great legacy He had as a child of David. He could have pointed out that He was a direct descendant of none other than King David - David of Jerusalem, of the great city of Zion. And in using David, He could have exposed Herod for the fraud he was. All Jesus needed to do was point to His own lineage and show that He in fact was the fulfilment of the Davidic kingdom. Andy's advice to the Son of God would have been: Stand on those three biblical foundations and you will put your enemies in their place.
So, why didn't He? Does it not make sense? Is there is no wisdom in what I'm saying? Why not?
The answer is: because that wasn't His way. That wasn't Christ's way. That wasn't God's way. Jesus used not the tools that I would have given Him, or the wisdom that the world would have suggested. No, on the contrary. He used the tools that He had, which were infinitely more powerful.
He demonstrated first of all the power of good over evil. The Sanhedrin tried to trap Jesus. They tried to get Him to say that He was the Messiah and in so doing, accuse Him of blasphemy. But Jesus didn't do that. In fact, Jesus got everybody else to say that He was the Messiah, and all that He said was: "You say that I am."
Some have suggested that Jesus had no awareness of being the Messiah, or never made any such claims. Oh, such arguments are folly - of course He knew! But He knew in such a way that He didn't want to come out and say it, He wanted others to say it. He wanted them to believe it. He wanted them to proclaim who He was. He wasn't on an ego trip, going around telling everybody who He was and what they should believe. On the contrary, the power of Jesus of Nazareth and the power of His certainty in goodness, His complete belief in the vindication of His Father was that He got them to say it and He didn't have to. In so doing, He exposed evil for what it was.
The wonder and the majesty of this passage is that whether it was the Sanhedrin who plotted to get Jesus to say something about Himself, or Pilate who wanted Him to say that He was the King of the Jews, or Herod who wanted Jesus to make a fool of Himself so He could be mocked, Jesus allowed their iniquity to be revealed for what it was. Jesus could not have shone a brighter light on their sin than they shone on themselves. Wickedness reveals itself as wickedness when it is held in contrast to the light. Jesus did not use the power of darkness to reveal iniquity. Rather, in humility and in grace, He allowed it to be seen for what it was.
Very often when we face difficulties or challenges, when we find people who are fraudulent or bad, when we see things that are not going our way, we are tempted to resort to the ways of the world to deal with them. Jesus reminds us, as only He can, that the way to reveal iniquity is to hold on to the belief in the power of good. Easter is a sign that that works.
He also demonstrated the power of His own courage, not only in word, but also in deed. None of us, I'm sure, will ever understand the power and tyranny of Rome. Pilate represented a military force almost unmatched in human history. It was power that was vicious at times, that overran countries and nations and suppressed people. It was dangerous to take on the Romans, particularly in the first century. Jesus stood before Pilate. One would think that the courageous thing for Jesus to do would have been to start an insurrection, to slap Pilate in the face, to tell him that he was an oppressor, to get out of the country for it was really God's land. That would appear to be the courageous thing to do in that setting.
But the truly courageous thing to do when Jesus was confronted by the awesome power of Pilate and his ability to put Him to death, was to maintain His mission - to hold onto that which was dear and true. And, as He had said to others, to turn the other cheek. Even when He was being nailed to the cross, and it appeared that Pilate was victorious, that Rome had acceded all the influences and expedient political pressures, even then Jesus did not pick up the tools of Pilate.
A number of years ago a delightful story about a Russian named Boris. Boris dies and goes to heaven. He meets Peter at the pearly gates. They chat and Peter takes him on a tour and tells him:
"Boris, there is only one place you can't go. You're not allowed on the pink clouds."
Boris was a little put out and said: "Well, why am I not allowed on the pink clouds?"
Peter said: "They're for people who have done something exceptional."
And Boris said: "I beg your pardon. I've done something exceptional."
Peter said: "You have?"
"I have indeed." Boris replied, "I stood before the Kremlin and I told them that communism was wrong and godless and that they needed to turn to democracy and truth and freedom."
And Peter said: "You did? When did you do that?"
Boris looked at his watch and said: "Two minutes ago."
Courage sometimes leads to one's demise. Courage is taking a stand for what you believe in, no matter the consequences. Jesus had that courage. Do not underestimate it. He stood before an awesome power and an awesome force but He believed - He believed that God's way was right.
He also demonstrated that His kingdom was unlike any other. Oh, Herod made fun of Him. He wanted Him to demonstrate His power through miracles and when Jesus refused to use His power Herod mocked and flogged Him and had his army belittle Him. They laughed at Jesus: "What kind of a king are you? You can do nothing. You are a fraud and a poseur."
Did Jesus respond in kind? Did Jesus try to prove who He was? No, Jesus took their insults. He took their thrashing. He took their mockery because He knew that at the end there was something more glorious, that His kingdom was not of this world. The Herods might make fun of Him and put a crown of thorns on His head or a purple robe around His shoulders, and the Romans might hang Him between thieves, but Jesus still did not resort to the methods of Herod and the Romans because He knew that the kingdom of God was at stake and He was willing to go out on a limb for it and for us.
This past Tuesday night I enjoyed a wonderful performance of a South African musical called "Mystery." In it, people were performing biblical stories in song in all different languages from South Africa. It was a magnificent evening, and as you can imagine for me, with my South African experience, very touching. But what amazed me was which stories from the Bible they chose to summarize their faith in only a two-hour period. How could you ever select just a few stories to convey the Bible's message?
To my amazement, one of the stories that they chose was Noah and the flood. I would never have imagined it. But the Noah character was an amazing fellow. In the story God tells Noah that everyone in his family is to get on the ark because the flood waters were rising and the sky was becoming darker yet. So Noah appealed to everyone to get on the boat. He came across as a bit of an idiot, as someone who didn't quite get what God was doing, but nevertheless obeyed. The only one who wasn't obedient was Noah's wife who sat outside the boat. He kept saying, "Dear, dear, come onto the boat. Save yourself."
And she muttered: "Typical husband, bossing me around again. Geez, what do you think I'm gong to do?" And she continued to mutter to herself.
Finally, Noah won the day. (And this is very unusual isn't it, gentlemen?)! His wife decided to join him on the boat and was saved. As the water rose higher and higher, Noah and his family and the animals on the ark were safe from the flood.
Later on was the image of Jesus being nailed to the cross and hoisted upright. As they pulled the ropes, the cross rose higher and higher and suddenly, at His feet were His accusers - all those who wanted Him dead. Christ went out on a limb as Noah went out on the ark -to save the world. Because Jesus and Noah knew that God's way was the way.
There is more of Chesterton's magnificent poem:
"I tell you naught for your comfort,
Yea, naught for your desire,
Save the sky grows darker yet
And the sea rises higher.
Night shall be thrice night over you,
and heaven an iron cope.
Do you have joy without a cause?
Yea, faith without a hope?"
No, we don't have faith without a hope. We know that our hope is the exalted Christ, and He says to the Sanhedrin and to Pilate and to Herod: "Remember, when the sea rises higher, GOD WINS!" Amen.
This is a verbatim transcription of the original sermon.