John 20: 19-31

 There are lots of statements of faith that we can pray as call and response, even if we do not hear them very often in our tradition. Think about “the word of God for the people of God” - “thanks be to God”. “In the name of Jesus Christ you are forgiven.” “In the name of Jesus Christ you are forgiven. Praise be to God.” “God is good all the time.” “All the time God is good”. But perhaps the one that is most meaningful to me personally is “Lord we believe” “Help our unbelief.”

Because the truth is no matter where we find ourselves on this journey with Jesus - whether this is your 100th year walking with him or you are brand new to the faith, we all have questions. We all have things that we may be struggling to believe - perhaps most especially in times of difficulty. 

Which is where the disciples find themselves today. A really difficult time. Let’s rewind and remember what has happened recently - in short order the disciples have ate what they didn’t know would be their final meal with Jesus, watch him be betrayed by one of their own, see him catered off and put on trial again and again, he’s killed, and now they are hiding in fear that the same thing would happen to them for just being associated with Jesus. 

Earlier in this chapter, Mary had an encounter with the Risen Christ and he sent her to tell his brothers, the disciples, that he is going to ascend to God. And she runs off with joy overflowing out of her, as the first evangelist, to tell the disciples “I have seen the Lord!” And all that Jesus had said to her.

Friends, its still the same day. John 20: 1 starts out “early on the first day of the week” and how does today’s passage start out “When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week”. Same day. Same day that Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved saw the empty tomb and heard Mary say that someone had taken he body of the Lord. Same day that Mary returned proclaiming that she had seen the Lord. Same day. 

And yet, the disciples are still behind locked doors. They are still afraid, even in the face of the second-hand powerful proclamation that Mary brought that she had see the Lord! The disciples still hadn’t. And in the face of all that they had experienced less than four days ago, they are afraid that the Jewish leaders are going to come after them next. And this time, denials weren’t going to be enough to save them. So they gathered together and bolted the door, trying to keep all that was outside, out there. 

But if a heavy stone sealing a grave couldn’t keep Jesus in, then a locked door wasn’t going to keep Jesus out. 

Jesus shows up, right in the middle of the disciples, showing them his scars and saying “Peace be with you”

Peace - even in the midst of your fears. Peace - even after what you witnessed and heard about. Peace - even if what I’m going to ask you to do next, means you need to leave this room and do hard things in my name. 

And the disciples were overjoyed. 

Except for Thomas. Thomas who wasn’t present. Sometimes we get into a bit of trouble with those dividers you see in your scripture that give passages of scripture names so you can remember what they are about. Friends, those weren’t part of the original text. They are something that we added much later, but they also do their job - because they are often the first thing that we remember about a text. So what do we say this passage of scripture is about? “Doubting Thomas”

Only Thomas is actually the only one brave enough not to be behind a locked door. Just a few chapters earlier, when Jesus is on his way back to Jerusalem, to face the anger of the Jewish leaders, but to be with Mary and Martha and raise Lazarus, its Thomas who proclaims “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

And so Thomas, who is brave enough not be with all of the other disciples, misses this experience and then gets labeled as “doubting” because he doesn’t believe their second hand news. But the disciples behavior at the beginning of this chapter shows that they didn’t believe Mary’s second-hand news either - at least not in a way that would invite them to leave the safety of the room!

Thomas, knowing and seeing and experiencing, all that had taken place wanted proof that it was really Jesus. He wanted what the other disciples had - the opportunity to see the scars that were still there. To hear from Jesus himself. 

And in that way, this text - it isn’t just about Thomas. Or the disciples. Its about us as well. Because we don’t want to hear about Jesus second hand either. We want our own experience with him - we want to know that Jesus is with us. 

Sometimes when we have been walking with Jesus for a while we can be prone to forget. Case-in-point, I have had so many people come to me over the years and not understand why when they share their personal experience with Jesus, their testimony, their story of faith - other people don’t automatically believe them. To which I will ask them to tell me about how they came to know and accept Jesus Christ and it is rarely because someone told them. It’s because someone walked with them through an experience they had with Jesus. 

Now does that mean we shouldn’t share our faith story? Absolutely not. It may be illuminating to someone and the Holy Spirit can use that to form connections when people have questions about their own, personal experience with Jesus. But we cannot shame people for desiring to see and hear from Jesus themselves. Because it is true for us as well. 

But that’s the easy part of this story. The harder part friends is the call of the Gospel to leave outside of our locked doors. Because friends, we still hide behind our own locked doors. We still let our own fears put a barrier between us and the world. 

Jesus shows up to the disciples at the beginning of this passage with a call to action - a call to go, to receive the Holy Spirit, and forgive people’s sins. But its not the first time Jesus has tried to teach his disciples about the meaning of the peace of his Kingdom. In John 14: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. From John 16: I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

Jesus’s version of peace isn’t saying that things are going to be easy. It’s saying that he will be with us, even in the midst of our fears, but we have to go. To go and tell. Friends, the gospel text doesn’t end with the salvation offered to us on the cross or  the victory of the resurrection and the empty tomb. It ties together the cross and the resurrection with a commission - that we are sent to go and tell. To go and proclaim. To go and walk beside people. We are sent out. 

We are here today as part of a wonderful celebration - that this church has been part of this community for 150 years. But part of the questions you are asking and living into is what does it look like to be the church for the next 150 years? And friends, that can only happen if we go out. Go out and live our faith. Go out and accompany people on their faith journey. Stretch beyond our fears as we walk with Jesus. 

Are we willing to go forth, in Jesus’s name? Amen. 

“Jesus the Passover Lamb” John 19: 31-42

  I’m in the midst of packing my parsonage, currently. One of the shocking things that I discover every time I begin to pack is how many pictures I have. Some are in frames. Some are in boxes. Some are in frames in boxes. But I have all of these photos because my family values snapshots - capturing moments in time forever in a photo. 

In many ways, we read scripture like we look at photographs. We read bits and pieces, sometimes forgetting what comes right before or right after the snapshot of scripture we are looking at. Now, there is a lot of value in snapshots - they help us remember some of the most memorable moments of our lives. But, they never tell the full story - not on their own. 

I told the folks here at Grace last Sunday that part of the job of a pastor is to disappoint congregations at a rate they can handle. And once again, I am going to be the pastor who disappoints you this evening. If you came to hear the familiar story of the last supper or Jesus washing the disciples feet, you are going to be disappointed. But I want to move us beyond the snapshot into the wider story of what is happening and why. With that in mind, let us turn our attention to tonight’s text from the Gospel of John. 

John is a bit different in how he approaches the telling of the life, ministry and purpose of Jesus that the other Gospel writers. For John, Jesus being the Messiah isn’t a secret. It’s something that he will tell anyone who would listen. The problem is that people weren’t all that interested in hearing what Jesus was trying to say.

But regardless if people were going to listen to Jesus’s proclamation, Jesus was going to show them. He chose to go to the cross because of us and for us - to set us free from sin and give us victory, even over death itself. In John, no one takes away Jesus’s life - he gives it away. Freely. 

For he is the Messiah. The Passover lamb. He was slaughtered for the sake of the world. (Exodus 12:6). John even puts in this detail about how Jesus’s legs did not need to be broken because he had already died, harkening back to the instructions for the Passover found in the book of Numbers -  They must not leave any of it till morning or break any of its bones. When they celebrate the Passover, they must follow all the regulations.

We also know that Jesus is the Passover Lamb because John the Baptist told us way back at the beginning of the Gospel - when he declared “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1: 29, 36).

But even though Jesus is the Messiah, fully divine, John also does not want us to miss the point that he is fully human - with a body - that poured forth blood and water after it was sacrificed. 

The problem is that folks still missed the fact that Jesus was the Messiah - even when it was shown through actions taking place right in front of them.

But is that not the case for us as well? How often do we miss something because we are in a rush? Or because we have already made up our minds? Remember that a great crowd is in the city of Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover - this meal that commemorates the amazing act that God had set them free from slavery in Egypt and delivered them to the promise land. To which Jesus is trying to say and show - yes! God is good! But God is not finished! I have come to set you free from sin that has bound you for so long and deliver you into the promised land of the heavenly Kingdom. 

And the people won’t hear it. 

Ironically, they don’t and won’t hear it because they are in such a rush to celebrate the holy day, the Sabbath, and make preparations. Under Jewish law bodies that have been executed must be removed and buried before the next day, so in haste to fulfill the law, there is a rush to make sure the three people being executed were killed before sundown. While crucifixion is a long, slow, painful way to die - the soldiers decide to speed it along by breaking the legs of those still hanging onto life. 

Yes, there is a law, but is this what God really meant to be the end result?

We cannot read this passage from the Gospel of John that calls us to come face to face with our Savior and not walk away thinking about the sin in our own lives. The ways that we have compartmentalized our lives - into thinking first about ourselves, and rarely about how our actions and decisions effect other people. The ways that we have been so focused on the letter of the religious law that we totally miss God’s point in giving it to us. The ties our religious behavior has been hypocritical and not honoring to God. 

Everything that Jesus came to set us free from. 

A few weeks ago I had a fascinating conversation about John 3, specifically about whether I thought Nicodemus was saved. While that final judgment rests in God’s hand, what I said is that I did see at the end of the Gospel of John a Nicodemus who bore the fruit of repentance. One who no longer lived in fear. Nicodemus who was no longer caught up in his own head. Nicodemus who responded to Jesus, along with Jospeh, as the king he truly was. 

Tonight, I wonder about us. I wonder about whether we both hear and see that Christ is our Passover Lamb, the one who set us free, and how we will respond? I wonder what sin we have tried to hide that needs to come to the light so the that the Way, the Truth, and the Life can set us free? I wonder how our lives will be made different all because of Jesus?

When we move past the snapshots of Holy Week, we see what this meal really means to us. That it is one that we come together and celebrate again and again and again because it calls us to remembrance of what Christ has done for us, but also continual examination of our hearts and reclaiming of the call that Christ has upon us. To go. To serve. To love. All because of the Passover Lamb, King, Savior, and Lord who laid down his life for us. Amen. 

“Resurrection” John 20: 1-18

 A dear friend and I were recently talking about death. Now that may seem odd since we are both in our mid-30s. But its something that we face every day as part of our jobs. I as a pastor; she as a hospital chaplain. In the midst of our conversation we picked up the tread on how a lot of folks are distant from death today - not being with people to sing them home, sit with them as they take their final breaths, or know how to make decisions for a loved one after they die. 

That wasn’t true of Mary. Mary was inmate with death, especially over the last few days. She had been at the foot of the cross as Jesus breathed his very last. She had watched his body be removed. And now she was going to the tomb to pay her final respects. To wrap his body in spices and oils and to be in prayer. This was her vigil. This was her gift. 

The problem is that things did not go as planned. When she arrived at the tomb things weren’t as they were supposed to be. The stone sealing the entrance of the tomb had been rolled back; even worse the body was gone. 

There are lots of ways that different cultures show care and love to those closest to them that have passed. Sometimes they build the casket themselves. Or dig the grave. Sometimes they sit with the body, keeping watch from the time of death until the burial. This was what Mary’s culture would have allowed her to do - to anoint the body. And now her ability to show care has evaporated.

So she does the only thing that she can think of doing - she runs. She runs straight to the disciples - not caring what hour of the day it was. Running to get help - her new sign of care and love and respect. As soon as she comes to Simon Peter she says the only thing that she can think of “They have taken the Lord!”

By now the disciples feel, within them selves, the anxiety and fear that Mary shares. What has happened? Where did the body go? Who would do such a thing? Is this a cruel joke to add to the depths of their grief? 

So they too, run. Run to the tomb and find it empty. Empty except for the death shrouds. And all they could do was go home. To leave the tomb - empty.

But not Mary. Mary can’t bring herself to leave. Where was she to go? How was she to pay her last respects now? And her tears of all of the overwhelm of the last few days came out. 

As Mary wept, she found that she wasn’t alone. First, she saw two angels who asked her why she was crying. To which she replied the same thing as what she said to the disciples earlier in the day “they have taken my Lord.” When she turned to look away from the angels and tomb she found a man standing beside her. A man she did not recognize. A man she thought was the gardener. 

All that man had to do was say her name, “Mary”, and her eyes were opened to see what she never expected - her Lord, the one she had believed to be taken away just a few short hours ago, to be standing right in front of her alive!

We live in a very visual culture. We read words on the page. We see images on our TVs or phones. We spend a lot of time looking. But remember that wasn’t how it was back in the time of the Gospels. Even as the Gospels were written down, they were often read by one person to be heard by everyone else. It was an oral society - focusing on the connection between the ear and the heart. For as people would hear these profound stories of the faith they were invited to live into them - to think about their place in them. And to remember that they tell of people who lived out these experiences well before they were ever written down. 

I share that to try to get us out of our visual mindset and into our hearts this morning. Who do you identify with in this story? Have you ever had the grief of Mary? Or the fear and anxiety of the disciples? Have you ever had the feelings that Mary would have harbored towards whoever took Jesus’s body? Or the defeat of the disciples that led them back to the safety of their home?

When we stop and dwell in this story instead of simply receiving it - we realize that a lot of us have been there. We’ve tried to do something to honor a loved one that didn’t go as we wished. And there have been times we haven’t understood what was happening around us. And when we identify in that way, the truth of the Gospel becomes real in a new way. 

For it is out of the depths of dispare - over everything that had happened the past few days - that Mary was brought to a place of profound joy when she heard Jesus say her name. It is out of a place of not understanding what could have taken place that Mary full understands that her Lord, our Lord, is free from the grave. Mary opened up the door for us to face our own darkness with her weeping, and our deepest joy and fulfillment with her exclamation of “Rabboni!”

Mary came to the grave that day expecting one thing - to be able to grieve - but instead she found hope, joy, and freedom. She came to do a simple act of kindness and instead was restored. 

But all that Mary experienced that day was not meant to be kept to herself. Instead Jesus sent her out on a mission - to tell the disciples. And now her cry was no longer “They have taken the Lord” but instead became “I have seen the Lord”

Oh, friends. When we step into this story with hearts open today, that can become our cry as well. We may have come to worship today expecting one thing, but I wonder what Jesus is inviting you to instead? How is Christ calling you to find hope, joy, and freedom? And how is he preparing you to be sent out with that cry of our hearts - that we have seen the risen Lord!

Christ is risen.

Christ is risen indeed. 

Amen.

“The Crucified Messiah” John 19: 16-22

 I have some colleagues who are much wiser that I, who remind me from time to time that part of the job of being a pastor is to disappoint people at a rate they can handle. When they say that, they are referring to not being able to give folks what they want all the time. But their wise words came to mind for me this week, when I was praying about this sermon. Because I am going to disappoint many of you this morning. 

If you came to church today, because its Palm Sunday, looking for an uplifting sermon about the triumph of Jesus entering into Jerusalem on the back of the donkey, as the crowds shouted Hosanna - you are going to be disappointed. Because I am not preaching about Palm Sunday. I am preaching about the other name that is held for this particular Sunday - passion Sunday. 

In other words, we aren’t going to focus on the crowds that shouted “Hosanna!” And celebrated Jesus. Instead, we are going to focus on the crowds who surrounded Jesus as he was crucified. 

Why? While we most often say together the Apostle’s Creed, there are all sorts of different creeds, or statements about what we believe as the body of Christ, that have been passed down through the ages. Another such creed is known as the Nicene Creed and it says this, “For our sakes, he [Jesus] was crucified under Pontious Pilate.”

Friends, we need to take time, even today at the beginning of our holy week journey, and consider this vital question - what did Jesus’s death accomplish for us?

And to do that, we turn our attention to today’s text from the Gospel of John. Last week, we discussed on Pilate tried to find a middle ground to appease the crowd, having Jesus beaten, before he ultimately gave into their demands out of fear and said that Jesus would be crucified. Today’s passage picks up at that point. 

At the word of Pilate the soldiers took over the proceedings - having Jesus begin the journey of carrying his own cross to Golgotha. While the other Gospels mention Simon the Cyrene, a bystander from the crowd called on by the soldiers to help Jesus carry his cross, in John, Jesus makes that journey alone, carrying the crossbeam that could have been as much as 125 pounds. 

Golgotha was a place that was feared in ancient times. It looked like a skull, which was appropriate because that was what it was used for - executions. Even if you were coming to Jerusalem from out of town, you would have known about this place of dread and death. 

When Jesus arrived, he was hoisted up onto the vertical beam for the cross - which was a permanent fixture. And he was nailed to the cross along with a person on his left and another person on his right. 

But Pilate enters back into our text as he had a sign made to hang along with Jesus. Written in not one, not two, but three languages was the title, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Now remember that everything that Pilate has done up to this point has been to try to pacify and satisfy the crowds. But when the religious leaders object, wanting the sign changed to “This man said, I am the King of the Jews”, he wouldn’t do it. Titles reflect power - and Pilate left this title as it was written. 

When the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Cor 1:23 that “we preach Christ crucified” he is recalling to mind this horrible event, in all of its gruesomeness. Folks hearing from Paul and receiving his letters would know all about crucifixion in a way that we really don’t today. We want to create distance from it and make it neat. But it wasn’t.

And when we try to create distance in our heads about the facts of what took place during a crucifixion, we also try just as hard to create distance in our hearts from what led to this moment in history that changed everything. 

Because all of the sin of humanity was on display that day in the crowd. Hatred, action, silence, indifference, cowardice. You name it - it was there. And when we try to make it pretty, to make it just something that happened in the past, we can think well that was just those folks in that crowd. But the truth is, all of that still exists in our world, lives, and hearts today. All the ways that we are sinful were on display that day as well. And we cannot escape that. We cannot escape that Jesus died both because of us and for us. 

If given a choice between the events of Christmas or Good Friday (and yes, we know that they are tied together) a lot of people would Christmas. There is something about the sentimentality of a baby lying in a manger that makes us feel good. That is not what we feel when we talk about crucifixion - that often brings up the emotions we try to avoid - guilt, grief, and shame. 

But the manger and the cross are tied together. Todd Agnew in one of his Christmas hymns asks if “cross cast a shadow over Your cradle?” But looking at the title that Pilate proclaimed, we also think back to the first people to call Jesus the King of the Jews. The Magi who asked King Herod. “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

When we truly sink into the meaning of the crucifixion and what Jesus did for us on the cross, we realize that Jesus was not just King of the Jews, but King of the world, because on that cross that day long ago, the Kingdom of God was revealed. In the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor during World War II who would ultimately be martyred, “In the passion, evil is overcome by divine love… evil becomes powerfulness when it is willingly borne.”

Friends, we cannot step into the immensity of the power and victory of next week if we do not take time this week to examine our own hearts. First, to examine our hearts and remember what Jesus has done for us. In other words what really took place as part of the crucifixion. Not the pretty version or the one that we have adopted to create distance. But what truly took place. Second, to examine our hearts for any unconfessed sin we have. Sin is sin is sin, my friends. No sin is worse than another. And while we say that, we don’t always believe it. We would rather search out the sin of others than to take a hard look at our own lives about what is sepearting us from God. If we have sin, now is the time to confess it, because Jesus died to set us free from it. And third, to take time to consider what it means for us to take up our cross, daily, and follow Jesus. That answer may be a little different for each of us, but it boils down to this - how do you live differently because of what Christ did for you. 

While Palm Sunday is often a time of great joy that propels us into the greater joy of Easter, the greatest joy that is to be had is when we recognize and respond to what has been offered to us on the cross. Will you pray with me…..

“Jesus Condemned" John 19: 1-16

 I remember the first time I saw the Passion of the Christ. I was in high school. A group of us went to DuBois to see it with our youth leader. When we came back to her house to debrief, we could just all sit in silence. Stunned. It seemed so brutal. So cruel. 

Yet, that is what took place when Jesus was condemned. Last week we talked about Pilate and the role that he played in this situation. That he was not an innocent bystander, nor a good person just caught in a bad situation, but how he let his power and the people go to his heart and head. 

Pilate tries to play both sides. He tries to protect Jesus, because he knows that he is innocent of whatever the religious leaders are trying to pin on him. But he also knows that he is here at this special time for the Jews, and he fears that if he doesn’t appease the crowd there will be an uprising. 

So he settles on a compromise. A brutal compromise. 

He has Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip. In other words Jesus was beat with a whip with pieces of lead embedded in it. Hit on his bare back. All as a sign of corporal punishment. Then the emotional beating started - as the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and pushed it onto Jesus head until it pierced his scalp. Putting a piece or purple cloth on him as they hit him whole crying “Hail! King of the Jews.”

By this point Pilate has already lost control. He did not tell the soldiers to do that. They just started on their own. And Pilate just went along to get along. Or maybe he saw this as yet another thing he could capitalize on in order to try to regain control. Because he led Jesus back out before the crowd, wearing that crown of thorns, purple clock and bleeding all while saying, “sure you can see him. Look at what I’ve done to him. But enough is enough because I don’t think he’s guilty.”

But Pilate lost even more control. Because it wasn’t enough for the crowd. What was more than enough for Pilate was only the beginning for the religious leaders and templed guards as they started to shout “Crucify him! Crucify him!” And the crowd was swept in. 

There was no more playing the middle ground. But Pilate desperately tries again. The religious leaders press in, arguing that by their religious law that Jesus had to die. To which, Pilate stands baffled. He isn’t Jewish. He isn’t the person who oversees the Jewish law. And he was so afraid. 

Standing on this side of history we could ask what he was afraid of. He had all the power in this situation. But he could feel all of that slipping away. He could have a mutuany. They could murder him. They could try to take control of the city. How was he going to answer for any of that with those in higher authority in the government than him? 

To which Jesus does not help when he simply tells him that all of his authority wasn’t earned. Or bestowed by the higher ups. It came only from above. So he really has no power over Jesus at all. 

So Pilate hands him back over to the crowds - who directed him - the one in charge, at least by the world’s standards, the one with the power - to crucify him. 

In normal order, this scripture passage is read on Good Friday. Sometimes as part of an evening service. Some times as part of a larger mid-day service where all of the crucifixion passages from the Gospels are proclaimed. But not this year. This year, we are being asked to sit with all of it - its harshness, its chaos - here in the fifth Sunday of Lent. 

We cannot hide from it by simply not attending Good Friday services. We cannot jump from the excitement of Palm Sunday to the joy of Easter. No, we need to sit in all of the grief and fear, here today. 

One of the reasons I preach from Lectionaries - or cycles of texts that extend over three or four years - is because I can’t escape from passages like this. And also because they are planned years ahead of time, yet seem to intersect right with the moment that we find ourselves in today. 

We are living in a time where the powers of the world are trying to figure out how to address the power of a nation that is trying to gain control of what is not theirs. We are trying to figure out how you reign it all in when power becomes abused. We are living in a time when we see the underside and ugliness of worldly power.

To which Jesus says, that is on you Pilate. Because that isn’t my power. That isn’t how I assert myself. 

While we are nearing the end of the season of Lent, this passage takes me right back to John 10 that we heard on Ash Wednesday. That Jesus is the Good Shepherd. That he lays down his life for his sheep. And that he is not like the hired hands - who do not actually care about the people and will scatter when times get hard. 

Pilate thought that he had the power and authority that day. And he tried to use it to play the safety of the middle ground and it did not work. But than again - Pilate didn’t really have the power. 

Pilate paraded a bleeding Jesus out in front of the crowd in hopes that they would think that he looked to pathetic to deal with any further - and they disagreed. All of a sudden it looks like the crowd had all of the power. Or at least the religious leader thought they had it. They stirred up the crowd. They had tricked Pilate into bending to their will. But the crowd misplaced  their authority. And misunderstood Jesus’s authority. 

But then again - when have we been there? When have we been a place where we have abused our authority? Or thought we had more sway and control than we actually did? Or have used what little power we have not for good?

We add our voice into that of the mob - finding safety in the thought that we are just joining in. That we didn’t start it. That there is safety in saying awful things as long as its anymous. 

Friends, Pilate may have thought that he had power that day - but there is a chasm between human and divine power. And Pilate was not in control. 

And the crowds thought they had the power - that they wanted to find a scape goat and they got one. But they didn’t understand that Jesus was laying down his life not as the scape goat but as the Lamb - the Great I Am.

I was asked this week about what word of hope I had to offer in the midst of all that is going on in our world. I said that I did not know what word to offer to our broken human hearts other than this - the world may be fighting for authority and control, but it is not there to have. Its proper place is with our Lord and Savior. And maybe today is the day to remember that. Not just in the face of sin that we see unfolding before us, but in the face of our own sinful hearts that grasp for power as well. Let us put power in its proper place - not in the hands of the world - but in the hands of the one who has come to set us free. Amen.