Sermon Tone Analysis

Don’t Take The Easy Way Out

Matthew 26:36-53

 

(Read text NIV) As we think of those who suffered and those who gave their lives on this Memorial Day weekend, we need to look at the issue of suffering.

We live in a world where suffering is the great enemy of mankind.

We do all in our power to avoid or eliminate it.

At times our efforts are noble.

Usually, they’re ridiculous.

The following are actual responses from comment cards given to the staff members at a wilderness area in 1996:  Trails need to be wider so people can walk while holding hands.

Trails need to be reconstructed.

Please avoid building trails that go uphill.

Too many bugs and leeches and spiders and spider webs, please spray the wilderness to rid the areas of these pests.

Please pave the trails so they can be snow-plowed during the winter.

Chair lifts need to be in some places so that we can get to wonderful views without having to hike to them.

The coyotes made too much noise last night and kept me awake.

Please eradicate these annoying animals.

A small deer came into my camp and stole my jar of pickles.

Is there a way I can get reimbursed?

Please call… Reflectors need to be placed on trees every 50 feet so people can hike at night with flashlights.

Escalators would help on steep uphill sections.

A MacDonald’s would be nice at the trailhead.

The places where trails do not exist are not well marked.

Too many rocks in the mountains.

Dave Dravecky says, “Yes, suffering is the enemy of the average American.

In America, Christians pray for the burden of suffering to be lifted from their backs.

In the rest of the world Christians pray for stronger backs so they can bear their suffering.

It’s why we look away from the bag lady on the street to the displays in store windows.

Why we prefer going to the movies instead of to hospitals and nursing homes.”

When we of Jesus’ crucifixion, frankly, I don’t think most people get it.

We’d rather look away from suffering and focus on God’s blessings.

Many churches would rather skip all that stuff about the torture and death of Christ and jump to the Resurrection.

The Resurrection is the hope of mankind, but we must not miss the importance of the cross.

We hear the story of Jesus and his crucifixion and we think, “How awful!

Poor Jesus, He was a victim of the most terrible crime in history.”

While it’s true that Jesus did suffer from a crime against him, he was no victim.

Although he easily could have, he chose not to take the easy way out, but to actually embrace his suffering.

And suffer, he did.

The stories told about his cross are so familiar and romanticized that we usually don’t recognize exactly what Jesus endured.

He faced more suffering in a 12 hour period than most of us will experience in a lifetime.

I want you to see and maybe even feel the extent of his suffering.

Let’s look at …

\\ THE SOURCES OF HIS SUFFERING

1.

The first was sheer loneliness.

This time of Jesus’ suffering is often called the Passion.

It began the night before Jesus was crucified in a place called the Garden of Gethsemane.

Jesus led his disciples there to pray.

He specifically singled out Peter, James, and John and asked them to stay up with him.

Jesus went away to pray, but he came back several times where he found his friends asleep.

The scripture reading shows that Jesus was frustrated and hurt by their lack of caring.

I contend that Jesus’ suffering began here because he was lonely.

He fully understood that he was going to die a horrible death and he wanted his closest friends to be with him.

He wanted their support, their care and concern, but all they could do was sleep.

Even when he was on the cross, his friends, with the exception of John, were no where to be seen.

They were too scared to even come near him.

They were afraid they’d have to do a little suffering of their own.

There’s a terrible loneliness when facing the possibility of suffering or death.

Most people who are dying or know their going to die want other people around them.

In all my time as a pastor, I’ve never witnessed any dying person drive people away and ask to be alone.

Family and friends gather by their bedside and that is absolutely the best thing that can happen.

That’s what Jesus needed in the garden that night, but his friends let him down.

He suffered loneliness needlessly.

Let me encourage you, if you know someone who’s sick or facing death, bless them with your company.

Don’t go in with the idea that you have to say the right words or solve the problem.

They simply need your presence, your prayers, and your care.

You may only hold hand.

It doesn’t seem like much, but it goes a long way.

2. Jesus experienced unanswered prayer.

Three times that night Jesus prayed that this “cup” would be taken away from him.

He was praying not to have to face the agony of the cross.

He also didn’t want to endure the sins of the world.

Here’s the perfectly sinless Son of God and he’s about to be cursed.

He who knew no sin was to become our sin for us.

Three times he prayed for another way and three times he was denied.

There was no other way.

His flesh and soul screamed against the torture of the cross, but in the end Jesus decided to embrace it.

He submitted to the will of the Father.

Maybe you’ve been there.

You’ve cried out to God, but the heavens are like brass above you.

You don’t get the answer you want.

It’s important in those times to stop asking for the same thing and simply hand yourself over to God’s will.

Rather than try to “name it and claim it” or pray the “Prayer of Jabez,” follow Jesus example and surrender to God.

Often we pray to take the easy way out, but often God calls us to embrace suffering.

3. Jesus felt the sting of betrayal.

Judas, one of the twelve, turned out to be a rat.

This man was hand picked by Jesus.

He saw the miracles.

He heard the Good News from the very mouth of God.

Jesus lavished his love on this man.

He entrusted him with power and authority too.

Judas was the treasurer.

You’ve got to be highly trusted in any organization to be given the task of handling money.

Judas also went on a preaching and healing mission.

He, himself, surely proclaimed the Good News of Christ, healed the sick, and cast out demons.

Despite all his accomplishments and experiences, in the end, Judas, sold Jesus out for the price of a slave.

Betrayal is a painful thing, especially if you’ve invested a lot of yourself in someone else.

It’s not physical suffering, but it’s like a punch in the gut when you find out that a friend is gossiping about you, or a family member slandering your character, or a co-worker stabbing you in the back to get the promotion, or a spouse having an affair.

4. Jesus also suffered injustice.

Most of us here can’t identify with this kind of suffering because we’ve never felt it.

When I read the injustice perpetrated on Jesus, it makes me angry.

As I’ve studied through the Greek it strikes me at the extent to which Jesus was denied justice.

Yet, he never said a word about it.