Sermon, Introduction to Preaching
Arturo Terrazas
Sermon Mark 15:39
Frederick Buechner, a retired pastor from the Presbyterian Church of the United States and also a famous writer, said a long time ago: “A preacher always has two stories to tell to the congregation, his own story and the story of Jesus”. It is incredible how many times church members are more attentive to the story of pastor's life instead of the story of Jesus. I truly believe that the life of Jesus must be told, but it is more important that his work on the cross be preached.
According to the gospel accounts Jesus spent three years of his life reaching people. Almost half of all the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, put more attention on the final days of his life, especially the crucifixion and His resurrection. Jesus was not just a teacher but a Redeemer, who really died and rose again on the third day. This is what the writers of the New Testament wanted to emphasize, not just the teachings of Jesus, but his real redemption acts. Jesus actually died for the authors and by his death he showed that he really cared about them. It is astonishing to see how many people are trying to live according to the teachings of Jesus and forgetting completely his work on the cross as a savior.
We can see also “intellectuals” that are disputing the real sayings of Jesus and the Christian message. Almost every month new novels and books are being published that are trying to find a new Jesus for the 21st Century.
Why don't these people try to do the same with the life of Mohamed or Buddha? Many people are trying to follow old oriental religions to get to heaven, hoping to become better people. But it is not possible because people have something called “sin”, and according to the Bible, that is the thing that separates us from God. It is a moral conflict that no one, except Jesus, can overcome.
The story of Jesus in the gospels teaches us great things. He healed the sick, fed multitudes, resurrected dead people, gave excellent lectures about the law of God, but as J. Gresham Machen stated, “Jesus was primarily not a teacher, but a Redeemer”. Jesus was the suffering servant that the prophet Isaiah described, the savior of the people of Israel and the real lamb of the Passover. He was the Son of God according to the prophet Daniel. The real Savior who would give new life as Hosea, an Old Testament prophet, said about the work of the Messiah: “he will heal us and he will bind up our wounds”.
The Word became flesh, and all the promises of Redemption would be found in the person of Christ. A man called the Christ would finally make reconciliation between God and his creatures called man.
He came to earth to love us. Karl Barth in his famous book “Church Dogmatics” stated a definition of God: “the one who loves”, and that is what Jesus was all about, the real savior and the hope of all the people of Israel.
We see in the gospels that as soon as he started to preach and heal, he received opposition. We see the reaction of the different groups of people, even the elders of Israel tried to conspire against him. Even his own disciples didn’t see him as the real Messiah. After spending three years with Jesus they still had doubts. Peter, who confessed that Christ was the savior, rejected Jesus three times. The people of Israel should have been the most to received the message of Christ. Since they had the readings of Moses, the prophets and the psalms. They knew the credentials the real Messiah would have, but they seem to not care. Just like his disciples, except for John, nobody was close to Jesus in his crucifixion.
But the gospel according to Mark states something interesting. Mark says, “And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”. We see in this passage a centurion observes Jesus's death.
He is a non Jew, a roman officer responsible for one hundred men, who was, according to many scholars, apparently responsible for the detachment that put Jesus to death. He was well placed to observe the death of Jesus.
The most unlikely person, to state something very interesting. A person who didn’t spend three years with Jesus listening to his teachings is there at his crucifixion listening to the last words of Jesus “Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit”. A person who heard the everlasting promise that Jesus made to the man who was hang next to him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise”.
It is incredible to see how Jesus, who is dying, bleeding, with his body broken is still bringing people to himself, no matter what they did. It is the best example of Grace.
Mark starts his gospel with these words: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”, Mark presents Jesus as the divine, eternal Son of God. At the crucifixion we see a roman soldier saying the exact same words.
A modern scholar says that the confession of the centurion “stands as the goal and climax of Mark’s gospel, filled with the content of the Christian message”.
The Christian message is the new life we get in Jesus Christ, by believing in him we are reconciled with God by grace alone and by faith alone. We have Justification by believing in Jesus.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism states that Justification is “an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepted us as righteous in his sight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone”.
We must believe in the sacrifice of Christ and in his resurrection to have eternal life. The centurion who was present at Jesus's death, who probably was responsible for Jesus murder, who probably ordered the soldiers to put the nails in his hands, who probably gave Jesus water is the same man who is confessing Christ as the Son of God. He receives a special revelation, not by flesh and blood. Since he probably never had heard the gospel before, but it was revealed to him by “the Father who is in heaven”.
We can see how the prophecy that God would call the gentiles as his own people, as well as the people of Israel, is fulfilled here. As the prophet Isaiah stated in the Old Testament, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me”.
The prophet Hosea said something similar: “Those who were not my people I will call my people, and her who was not beloved I will call beloved… and they will be called sons of the living God”. This passage should give us confidence to preach the good news of Jesus Christ to all men because we do not know if God will have mercy on them, just as he showed mercy to a Roman soldier in the year 33 A.D. who was in charge at the death of Christ.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton said in his book, “The Everlasting Man”, “When the world goes wrong, it proves rather that the Church is right. The church is justified, not because her children do not sin, but because they do”. The problem is the same, sin that separates us from God and the problem that reveals who we really are, but the solution is the same. Salvation through Christ, believing in his work on the cross and on his resurrection.
Jesus still brings people to his glory. It is a continuous action that he will do until he returns. We were dead in our sins, but because of Christ we have a new hope, a life that starts from rebirth until eternity. There is a beautiful ministry in Mexico. A group of Christians take care of people with AIDS during the terminal stage in their lives. Basically Christians share the gospel with them and take care of these people during their last days.
One of the amazing things that you see when you walk through the doors is a Bible verse from the Gospel of Luke, the everlasting promise that Jesus spoke to one of the persons who was crucified next to him. The promise is, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise”. There is hope for everyone, even for people who are literally dying.
Jesus demonstrated that the best healer is the wounded healer, that person who can heal us by his wounds. The old prophet said that by his wounds he would heal us and we can truly be, if we just believe. Like those people in Mexico with AIDS who receive Christ, we can have eternal life with Christ, a life that starts here on earth and continues into eternity.
I believe that is the message that the world needs to hear today; there is still hope because with Christ all things are made new.
Sermon Mark 15:39
Frederick Buechner, a retired pastor from the Presbyterian Church of the United States and also a famous writer, said a long time ago: “A preacher always has two stories to tell to the congregation, his own story and the story of Jesus”. It is incredible how many times church members are more attentive to the story of pastor's life instead of the story of Jesus. I truly believe that the life of Jesus must be told, but it is more important that his work on the cross be preached.
According to the gospel accounts Jesus spent three years of his life reaching people. Almost half of all the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, put more attention on the final days of his life, especially the crucifixion and His resurrection. Jesus was not just a teacher but a Redeemer, who really died and rose again on the third day. This is what the writers of the New Testament wanted to emphasize, not just the teachings of Jesus, but his real redemption acts. Jesus actually died for the authors and by his death he showed that he really cared about them. It is astonishing to see how many people are trying to live according to the teachings of Jesus and forgetting completely his work on the cross as a savior.
We can see also “intellectuals” that are disputing the real sayings of Jesus and the Christian message. Almost every month new novels and books are being published that are trying to find a new Jesus for the 21st Century.
Why don't these people try to do the same with the life of Mohamed or Buddha? Many people are trying to follow old oriental religions to get to heaven, hoping to become better people. But it is not possible because people have something called “sin”, and according to the Bible, that is the thing that separates us from God. It is a moral conflict that no one, except Jesus, can overcome.
The story of Jesus in the gospels teaches us great things. He healed the sick, fed multitudes, resurrected dead people, gave excellent lectures about the law of God, but as J. Gresham Machen stated, “Jesus was primarily not a teacher, but a Redeemer”. Jesus was the suffering servant that the prophet Isaiah described, the savior of the people of Israel and the real lamb of the Passover. He was the Son of God according to the prophet Daniel. The real Savior who would give new life as Hosea, an Old Testament prophet, said about the work of the Messiah: “he will heal us and he will bind up our wounds”.
The Word became flesh, and all the promises of Redemption would be found in the person of Christ. A man called the Christ would finally make reconciliation between God and his creatures called man.
He came to earth to love us. Karl Barth in his famous book “Church Dogmatics” stated a definition of God: “the one who loves”, and that is what Jesus was all about, the real savior and the hope of all the people of Israel.
We see in the gospels that as soon as he started to preach and heal, he received opposition. We see the reaction of the different groups of people, even the elders of Israel tried to conspire against him. Even his own disciples didn’t see him as the real Messiah. After spending three years with Jesus they still had doubts. Peter, who confessed that Christ was the savior, rejected Jesus three times. The people of Israel should have been the most to received the message of Christ. Since they had the readings of Moses, the prophets and the psalms. They knew the credentials the real Messiah would have, but they seem to not care. Just like his disciples, except for John, nobody was close to Jesus in his crucifixion.
But the gospel according to Mark states something interesting. Mark says, “And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”. We see in this passage a centurion observes Jesus's death.
He is a non Jew, a roman officer responsible for one hundred men, who was, according to many scholars, apparently responsible for the detachment that put Jesus to death. He was well placed to observe the death of Jesus.
The most unlikely person, to state something very interesting. A person who didn’t spend three years with Jesus listening to his teachings is there at his crucifixion listening to the last words of Jesus “Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit”. A person who heard the everlasting promise that Jesus made to the man who was hang next to him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise”.
It is incredible to see how Jesus, who is dying, bleeding, with his body broken is still bringing people to himself, no matter what they did. It is the best example of Grace.
Mark starts his gospel with these words: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”, Mark presents Jesus as the divine, eternal Son of God. At the crucifixion we see a roman soldier saying the exact same words.
A modern scholar says that the confession of the centurion “stands as the goal and climax of Mark’s gospel, filled with the content of the Christian message”.
The Christian message is the new life we get in Jesus Christ, by believing in him we are reconciled with God by grace alone and by faith alone. We have Justification by believing in Jesus.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism states that Justification is “an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepted us as righteous in his sight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone”.
We must believe in the sacrifice of Christ and in his resurrection to have eternal life. The centurion who was present at Jesus's death, who probably was responsible for Jesus murder, who probably ordered the soldiers to put the nails in his hands, who probably gave Jesus water is the same man who is confessing Christ as the Son of God. He receives a special revelation, not by flesh and blood. Since he probably never had heard the gospel before, but it was revealed to him by “the Father who is in heaven”.
We can see how the prophecy that God would call the gentiles as his own people, as well as the people of Israel, is fulfilled here. As the prophet Isaiah stated in the Old Testament, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me”.
The prophet Hosea said something similar: “Those who were not my people I will call my people, and her who was not beloved I will call beloved… and they will be called sons of the living God”. This passage should give us confidence to preach the good news of Jesus Christ to all men because we do not know if God will have mercy on them, just as he showed mercy to a Roman soldier in the year 33 A.D. who was in charge at the death of Christ.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton said in his book, “The Everlasting Man”, “When the world goes wrong, it proves rather that the Church is right. The church is justified, not because her children do not sin, but because they do”. The problem is the same, sin that separates us from God and the problem that reveals who we really are, but the solution is the same. Salvation through Christ, believing in his work on the cross and on his resurrection.
Jesus still brings people to his glory. It is a continuous action that he will do until he returns. We were dead in our sins, but because of Christ we have a new hope, a life that starts from rebirth until eternity. There is a beautiful ministry in Mexico. A group of Christians take care of people with AIDS during the terminal stage in their lives. Basically Christians share the gospel with them and take care of these people during their last days.
One of the amazing things that you see when you walk through the doors is a Bible verse from the Gospel of Luke, the everlasting promise that Jesus spoke to one of the persons who was crucified next to him. The promise is, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise”. There is hope for everyone, even for people who are literally dying.
Jesus demonstrated that the best healer is the wounded healer, that person who can heal us by his wounds. The old prophet said that by his wounds he would heal us and we can truly be, if we just believe. Like those people in Mexico with AIDS who receive Christ, we can have eternal life with Christ, a life that starts here on earth and continues into eternity.
I believe that is the message that the world needs to hear today; there is still hope because with Christ all things are made new.
posted by Arty at lunes, octubre 31, 2005
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