Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Anger
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Our service today is stark, abrupt, inconsistent.
It starts with us singing the regal 8th century hymn all glory laud and honor and just as quickly we sing the comparatively downtrodden Stricken Smitten.
There is little else to say about this except that on this side of the resurrection we should know life is just as fickle.
Why?
We are the cause.
The glory of God on this side of life includes suffering, what appears to be betrayal, loss and heartache.
Jesus didn’t just go through those things to get to the resurrection.
He went through them because He lived in a sinful world.
In our Lutheran Tradition we have a distinction that is important to hold on to, the theology of glory vs. the theology of the cross
A theology of glory minimizes pain.
It doesn’t know what to do with our memory verse today:
A theology of glory minimizes the fear of God and maximizes His niceness.
A theology of glory quits after the first half of our service.
It offers a quick, emotional escape for any pain and treats Jesus like a therapeutic that you take as needed.
It justifies this passage by saying well, “He doesnt really mean that” Most of all this keeps God good in our eyes.
I never want the painful God.
If that God doesn’t exist then how do I account for the flood of Noah, the hiding of Moses’ face, the Woe is me of Isaiah?
The exile of Israel into the bondage of Babylon and the Cross of Christ?
A God without the power to Kill and make alive is a saw without a blade.
There may power but it has no aim.
It cannot build anything.
As Mr Butler said last week: our God is dangerous.
Jesus has come to confront and redefine a theology of Glory.
You know what is important about this passage?
It occurs AFTER the procession of Jesus into Jerusalem.
After - the saccharin, man made, glory; the hosannas and palms and cheers.
Theologian Rudolph Bultmann reflected on John 12 and then posits this:
[L]ife is of so peculiar a character, it so completely eludes any desire to have it at our own disposal, that it is lost precisely when we desire to hold it fast, and it is won exactly when we give it up.
The addict knows that you must bottom out, claim powerlessness, and lose before you can recover.
We are addicted to self.
Farmers know that you must plow a field and let it die- then lay fallow before it will yield a better crop.
It’s that last line that we must pause on.
I’d love to soften that word ‘hate’ for you.
Alas I cannot.
To paraphrase Augustine: If you want to keep your soul safe forever, you have to hate it for a time.
John seems uniquely equipped to answer what this looks like.
As he lived the longest of the disciples he lived the majority of his life like you and I - AFTER the death and resurrection of Jesus.
In his first epistle he tells his little church:
The main point here is one of reality.
To quote Dr. Luther - a theologian calls a thing what it actually is.
You and I will have incredible unhappiness if all we chase is the fleeting, temporary, facade of earthly glory.
The theology of glory tells us that you can work for your satisfaction and that your salvation is immediate and earthly.
Whether it be a new facade on your home or any sort of self gratification, a theology of glory tells us that in this life, suffering is only a means to an end and the end should always serve YOU.
The glory of this world is not glorious enough.
Not nearly.
Heaven and earth should proclaim the truly glorious.
Here is the glory of God:
Christ the eternal Lord emptied Himself.
He did this knowing full well that he would be betrayed, spat on, and mocked and jeered.
Glorious.
He would do it a thousand times but what it required was the death of the omnipotent.
One singular instance to divide time itself from BC to AD.
He rose.
He is resurrected, yet God is fundamentally involved in our world through suffering.
I’ve only ridden a horse bareback once.
It was uncomfortable.
I’m willing to bet that just as Jesus was riding into Jerusalem in majesty there was a fair amount of discomfort.
Bodily knowing the cross was literally on the horizon and the donkey was pokey, mentally knowing his saving was not what they wanted, and spiritually knowing He was forsaken for a time.
This is His glory.
You will rise in His glory because He arrived, He died, and He rose in glory.
Amen.
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