March 11, 2018 – “Unburdened: How Convenient” by Rev. Cody Sandahl

Lay Reader = John 3:14-21

¹⁴And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. ¹⁶“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.¹⁷“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. ²¹But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”

Introduction

We are still looking this Lenten Season at the burdens we’re carrying around in our overstuffed lives. We’re asking what burdens we can release – not just a toothbrush and a pair of socks, but bigger, heavier stuff.

We’ve looked at the burden of busyness. We’ve looked at the burden of being self-absorbed. We’ve looked at the burden of pressure from others.

This week we are joining Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. These are Jesus’ final moments of freedom before his arrest and eventual crucifixion. Given the gravity of the moment, how does Jesus spend his time? What does he say? What is he feeling?

Matthew 26:36-46

³⁶Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” ³⁷He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and agitated. ³⁸Then he said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.” ³⁹And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.” ⁴⁰Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, “So, could you not stay awake with me one hour? ⁴¹Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” ⁴²Again he went away for the second time and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” ⁴³Again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. ⁴⁴So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words. ⁴⁵Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. ⁴⁶Get up, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand.”

The True Victory

Many  years ago when I had the chance to go to Israel, we spent a good amount of time in the Garden of Gethsemane. It’s a deceptively peaceful garden today with olive trees hundreds of years old – possibly old enough to be there when Jesus walked the earth. And not too far away there’s a church built around a giant rock. It’s called the Rock of Agony. According to tradition it is the place where Jesus threw himself to the ground to fervently pray to God as his crucifixion drew near – the text we just read.

I’ve shared before stories about how the holy sites in Israel don’t always feel holy. Many times they feel like a mixture between tourist traps and museums. But we were lucky with the Rock of Agony – not too many people were there with our group. So we finally got a chance to sit and reflect in a holy spot.

At least until the renovation crew came back from their lunch break and resumed their hammering. Bang! Bang! Bang! Feeling holy yet? Bang! Bang! Bang! Don’t these people realize how inconvenient this is? Bang! Bang! Bang! And that’s when it happened.

Suddenly I had an image spring into my mind. A different image of hammer and nails. I saw Jesus being nailed to the cross, felt the jolt of every ping of the hammer.

And suddenly I realized that the true victory of our faith happened before the cross. The true victory of our faith happened in this garden – maybe right there on that rock. The true victory of our faith came when Jesus decided to NOT escape. When Jesus decided to LET himself be crucified. When Jesus decided that there was truly no other way to reunite us with him. When Jesus said in his prayer, “nevertheless – not what I want but what you want.” That ‘nevertheless’ was the moment. Everything else was just that decision playing out in painful reality. But in this garden, with that ‘nevertheless,’ that’s when the choice was made.

One of the top Christian songs right now talks about this. Reckless Love by Cory Asbury:

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down; Fights ’til I’m found; Leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God

That’s what happened in this garden, perhaps on that very rock.

Holy Ground

But here’s a funny thing about holy places and holy moments. Do you remember what God told Moses when he encountered God at the burning bush? “Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” What does that mean? It means Moses wasn’t worthy of being in God’s presence.

And that’s what I experienced in my holy moment in that holy garden. For after the holy moment passed, after I had that vision of the crucified Christ, after I had that realization that I was standing at the place of our victory, of our salvation. After that…I remembered what I had been thinking just the moment before. I was stewing on how inconvenient it was to be interrupted in my prayer by this darn hammering. My inconvenience seemed a little bit trivial standing next to the Rock of Agony.

The Burden of Convenience

We’re talking this Lenten Season about being unburdened – releasing the things that weigh us down. Not just a pair of socks. Big stuff. Heavy stuff.

Let me give you two burdens you can release.

The first is the burden of convenience. Have you ever thought of convenience as a burden? Well if not, let me ask you – how much time do you spend thinking about your preferences, trying to make something nicer for you, worrying that something is going to be inconvenient? And what could you do with that time if you had it back?

Is there anything important you’re not doing because you’re “too busy?” What if you stopped worrying about how convenient your life is and used that time toward something more important? Could you actually fit in time to pray and listen to the Creator of the Universe? Could you actually fit in time to seek God’s will? Could you actually fit in time to do God’s will for you? Could you actually fit in time to show those around you that you love them?

The time you spend worrying about how convenient things are – that’s a burden.

I’ve shared before that in middle school I was so shy I wouldn’t even go ask for more ketchup from the Burger King workers. And several things helped me change that, but one of the biggest was to stop worrying. You see, my mom’s side of the family has an innate ability to imagine every possible way things can go wrong. And I have those genetics. I think it’s a sign of how smart we are.

And I used this “gift” to imagine every possible way that even simple social interactions could go wrong. I imagined every way that I could be viewed as dumb or annoying or clueless. And yes, I can imagine ways for the Burger King workers to think a middle schooler asking for ketchup is annoying and clueless. What if there was actually a station behind me with more ketchup already? What if it was actually in my bag already and I just missed it?

So for me, it was life-changing to release this burden. I thought it would be mighty inconvenient if others thought I was clueless or annoying or foolish. So for me, I had to say “nevertheless.” I can still imagine how everything can go wrong – it’s a genetic thing for me. “Nevertheless” I keep going.

How are you worrying? How are you worrying about what others think? How are you worrying about all the ways something could go wrong? How are you worrying about how inconvenient something could be?

Tell that worry, “nevertheless.” Release the burden of convenience. Live your life anyway. Do what’s important, not just what’s convenient.

The Burden of Attitude

The second burden you can release is the burden of attitude. When I had that holy moment at the Rock of Agony, several other moments passed through my memory – not just that little inconvenience of the hammers. I remembered all my little proud martyr moments.

I stayed late to help someone who was depressed even though it was inconvenient; I had patience with an irrational parent of a youth; I had to work so hard to get the church’s finances in order. Suddenly those little proud moments didn’t seem worth much standing next to the Rock of Agony.

I realized I had been using convenience as my barometer for faithfulness. Wherever following God was inconvenient, I had two choices. Either (A) I could complain about it to God. Or (B) I could do it anyway and pat myself on the back for my faithfulness. But next to the Rock of Agony, next to Jesus’ ‘nevertheless,’ I didn’t feel like I deserved too many pats on the back. Maybe the “Bang! Bang! Bang!” of those hammers needed to crucify my pride at how I had allowed myself to be inconvenienced for Jesus.

Now don’t get me wrong, many of those inconveniences were actually serving Christ. Many of them were actual examples of faithfulness. But my inner attitude – whether griping or proud – that wasn’t so faithful.

The time and energy we spend griping about our inconveniences, the energy we spend patting ourselves on the back, and the energy we spend wondering if others are patting us on the back – all of that time and energy is the burden of attitude. It’s awfully hard to hear God in the midst of all that attitude.

Psalm 51 says, “The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.” The attitude that God can use is a broken and repentant heart. Not a proud, self-congratulatory one.

Where are your inner thoughts being a burden to you? Where are your attitudes being a burden to you? Tell those attitudes, “nevertheless.” Release the burden of attitude. All you need is a broken and repentant heart, not a heart that has stored up all the reasons God owes you for the inconvenience he has caused you.

Inconvenient but Important

When he was just five years old, Jack Hoffman was diagnosed with pediatric brain cancer. And he got to meet one of the stars on the Nebraska football team – Rex Burkhead. How many college seniors are thinking about the kids with cancer in their city? And how many are willing to endure the inconvenience of going to the hospital?

But there Rex was meeting kids like Jack. And Rex went a little further than most. How many college seniors who are on their way to the NFL would bother to get Jack onto the field in the Spring Game? And we’re not talking about on the sidelines. We’re talking about on the field, in the game, with a Nebraska uniform, and a play drawn up for him. Sixty-nine yards and one touchdown later, Jack Hoffman was a star.

From there the family started a foundation, Team Jack, that has raised more than $5 million for pediatric cancer research. Jack became quite the story, and how many people have been helped?

But no one envisioned that at first. It was just a college senior and a few others doing what they thought was right. And it’s been able to continue in part because the much more famous people in this story, like the Nebraska football player who is now in the pro’s, they were happy for the story to be about Jack, not themselves.

That’s what can happen when you release the burden of convenience and the burden of attitude. When we do something inconvenient but important, God works wonders. Jesus saw the pain in front of him and declared “nevertheless” in the garden and we found salvation. The Nebraska football player saw the inconvenience of hanging out with sick kids and declared “nevertheless” and Team Jack was born.

Where’s your “nevertheless?” What’s inconvenient but important? If you were standing next to the Rock of Agony with Christ, what would he have you do? And what burden would he have you release? Amen.