The Pharisees were really upset! “You see we can't do anything! The whole world has gone after Him!” For all their holy talk of keeping the Law and being religious men, what really made the Pharisees mad was that Jesus was stealing their thunder. The common people flocked to Jesus for His healing and preaching of mercy and the Pharisees couldn't stand it. This Savior wasn't flattering them and patting them on the back! Some believed in Him, but they did so secretly, not wanting the Pharisees to put them out of the synagogues. They loved the praise of men more than the glory of God. Jesus comes and delivers a salvation that robs them of their glory. It doesn't flatter them. It doesn't flatter us either. The terrible crushing the Law does to us is to expose that we love the praise of men more than God. It bothers us when people don't recognize how hard we try to be godly. How religious we are. How pious. When we consider how much better we are than those around us, it can make us angry that God doesn't seem to notice what we do! The truth is, as sinners, one way or another, we love the praise of men more than God and our Old Adam hates it when the Lord gets all the attention in church instead of us!
But Jesus doesn't fear men. And He doesn't seek their praise. And He doesn't glorify Himself by showing off. Jesus comes to do as Isaiah says, to give His back to the smiters. He doesn't seek their praise or approval but patiently and humbly submits Himself to their cruel insults, their harsh slaps, their beatings, scourging, and crucifixion. When Jesus is mocked and has such hateful words flung at Him, He doesn't fight back. He commits Himself to the Father who judges justly. Who's right? The Pharisees or Jesus? Christ's resurrection on Easter answers that question! Jesus came to be the most hated, insulted and unflattered person because we love all the flattery for ourselves. Because we love to be the centers of attention, because we want God to pat us on the back and tell us how great we're doing, Jesus goes the way of sorrow. The way of mockery, pain and death. There on Calvary is the one Man who doesn't care what men think but only desires to do the Father's will. There on the cross is the Son of God who draws all people to Himself, not because He flatters them and they like to hear it. He draws them to Himself because He is our Savior from sin. His wounds and blood cleanse us and win for us the salvation that comes not because we deserve it but because of God's grace and mercy.
There is now no more need to fear men. Never mind what people say about you out there, being a Christian. There is now no more fear that God doesn't recognize you and all the great things you do. That Old Adam way of thinking has been buried with Christ. Now, in your baptism, you have something spoken about you by God—that you are His forgiven child. That is such a description of you that no other person will ever make. It's a conclusion about you that you could never draw about yourself. What the Father says about you because of His Son is so different, so undeserved and yet so powerful and saving that it forgives your sins, quenches your lust for flattery and calls you holy in Christ. God is not content for you to want the weak and sad glory of men! He gives you His own glory, the glory of His Son, the salvation of Jesus. This Holy Week is not our time. It is Jesus' time. His time to come and suffer for our wanting it to be ours. But it is His. All His. And He's doing it for you. To save you. To make you His. To throw down all false flattery and the love of men's praise and to lift you up to enjoy the glorious riches of God's grace and glory which are given to us for the sake of that Son who is lifted up on the cross. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment