Matthew 16:21-28 (NLT)
Jesus Predicts His Death
21 From then on Jesus[a] began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead.
22 But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him[b] for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!”
23 Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?[c] Is anything worth more than your soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds. 28 And I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”
Transcription
(Transcribed by TurboScribe)
Palm Sunday begins on a road leading to Jerusalem. A king enters the city, not with armour, not with force, but on a donkey. Palms wave in the air like declarations of victory.
Voices cry, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. They were celebrating a king, but didn't understand the kind of king he was. Because this celebration is moving somewhere.
The cheers of Sunday are already casting the shadow of Friday. This same road leads to a cross. Palms will give way to thorns.
Shouts will fall silent beneath the weight of nails. Yet this is not a story of loss. It's a story of love.
Because the cross was never the end. It was the doorway. Palm Sunday leans toward an empty tomb.
Toward a morning where death is defeated and hope rises with the sun. The king who came in humility will rise again in victory. Good morning.
It's good to see so many of you and to see your faces on this Palm Sunday. Alexander just said he forgot to remind you that there is a Maundy Thursday service, but it's online only. So if you go to the website, it will be online and you can watch the Manndy Thursday service online.
Father God, thank you for these moments, moments in your holy presence. We'll hear your words again this morning, Lord Jesus, as you remind us why you came into this world. Help us then to see you and honour you.
In your holy name we pray. Amen. I'm sure you'll agree with me if I say that this amazing life that God gives us, with all of its joy and happiness and also sometimes with a struggle, isn't always easy and sometimes really painful.
There's many reasons for that. We suffer loss. We struggle.
We fail. We get angry. We get frustrated.
All of these things and it causes pain. But maybe the most difficult of all of these challenges is the pain of surrender. That moment that I stand before God and I look God in the eye and I say, Lord, here's my everything, my whole life, and I want to give that to you in a surrender.
And from now on, Lord, you lead and I will follow. Because just think, most of us like to lead. Most of us like to make the decisions.
Most of us like to be in control. And all we want of God is to follow behind and clean up the messes. So the question we're going to ask this morning, and each of us has to answer that for themselves, is the question in my life, who leads and who follows? It's a little bit of the question of Palm Sunday.
Because for Jesus to get to that open grave, he had to surrender. And it started on Palm Sunday. So read with me Matthew 16.
That was interesting. When I saw this, my last sermon here before I went off was from Mark, and it was the same passage, not the same sermon. So Caesarea Philippi is where they are.
You'll remember that, where Jesus asked the question, who do you say I am? And then we go in Matthew from verse 21, and I'm reading from the New Living Translation. From then on, Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders. Presbyterians, you know that.
The word for elder in Greek is presbyteros. He didn't suffer by the presbyterians. By the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law.
He would be killed, but, and that is a big biblical but. He would be killed, but on the third day, he would be raised from the dead. But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things.
Heaven forbid, Lord, he said, this will never happen to you. Jesus turned to Peter and said, get away from me, Satan. You're a dangerous trap to me.
You're seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's. And then Jesus said to his disciples, who wants to lead, who wants to follow? If any of you want to be my follower, you must give up your own ways. Take up your cross and follow me.
For if you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. So what do you benefit if you gain the whole world, but you lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? For the Son of Man will come with His angels in the glory of His Father and will judge all people according to their beliefs.
And I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Son of Man coming in His glory. So here we have Jesus in this discussion with His disciples, telling them what's waiting for them as they journey to Jerusalem. For what they'll see in a moment is they'll go in there and they'll hear the Hoshana, save us, Lord.
They'll hear what we just sang. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Baruch haba b'Shem Adonai.
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. They're going to hear all of this, and they're going to see this King. And Jesus says, stop.
Let me tell you what's really going to happen when you see all this. I'm going to Jerusalem because I am surrendering to the plan of God. I'm going there, and they will take me prisoner, and they are going to torture me, and I am going to suffer, and they are going to nail me to a cross, and I am going to die.
But on the third day, God is going to let me walk out that tomb. And when you read this, and when you go read it again, you'll see that when Jesus says this, you cannot feel in the language that there's regret or a heaviness or, oh, my Holy Moses, why am I having to go and do this? Yes, He says, it's going to be hard. Yes, it's going to be difficult.
I am going to suffer. I am going to be nailed to a cross. I am going to die.
But, and there's that big biblical but, on that third day, God is going to show up, and I am going to walk right out of that grave. Can you hear that, my friends? What He's saying is this, if I am prepared to surrender and give it up to God, God will show up on the third day. Sometimes the third day is longer than three days.
Sometimes the third day feels like it's never going to happen. And Satan will stand, as he did outside the tomb of Jesus, and he was celebrating because he's gone and dead. And on that third day, God says, arise, my love, arise, my love.
Death no longer has a hold on you. And Jesus says to you and me, if you surrender your life to me, and you give it up, and I lead, and you follow, whatever it might be, there is a third day, and on the third day, God shows up. Is there any Baptist in this church that can say amen? Because that God that shows up is a good God, and a loving God, and a caring God, a God who knows me, and a God who gave His only Son for me.
If I surrender, God shows up. Always. And this is not a biblical, well maybe it is, biblical, but this is one of ours.
It's a causal relationship. Jesus, being obedient and going to the cross, causes God to show up and open that grave. If Jesus did not go to the grave and give it all up, there would be no third day.
Not for Him, not for me, not for you, and not for anyone. When I surrender, God shows up. Didn't sit well with Peter.
By now we should know that. And Peter has a word to say. In that beautiful verse 22, Peter took him aside and said, Heaven forbid, Lord, that would never happen to you.
Now, if it wasn't so serious, we could have a little chuckle out of this. Because just think about it. Here's Peter looking at the Son of God, trying to stop the Son of God from doing what the Son of God had come to do in this world from the beginning.
The irony is also a little sad. Peter, in doing this and just being so in a hurry, he misses, doesn't see what it means for God to show up. Because Peter's doing the Peter thing and the us thing.
Peter's looking out for Peter's own interests. He's thinking, Jesus, we've got a good thing going. Look at all the people with us.
They're just coming. We're going to Jerusalem. It's the feast.
Do you know how we can build that congregation? Do you know how we can build this movement? We've got a good thing going. Don't you talk about dying and stuff like that. Because here's the thing.
Peter's looking out for Peter's best interest. And the problem is so many of us fall into that same trap. And we think, if I lead, if I do the things, if I stay in command, if I do, then I'll be fine.
Because it's for my best interest. How sad the answer that Jesus gives him. And no wonder Jesus is a little sharp in his answer.
Because in doing what Peter is doing, he's violating the most fundamental characteristic of God. Of who God is. Of who God works.
Of how God functions in this world. And that is that God is always looking out for the best interest of others. When this world was messed up, he called the Noah.
And he started over. When he needed to start out new, he called the man Abraham from Ur. And brought him all to the promised land.
When things were not good, he sent a young man called Joseph. And three days was a little longer for him. But that was in preparation for him to show up when they needed him.
Took a little baby and put him in the River Nile. Because God did show up for our best interest. He called prophet after prophet.
He sent a man called John the Baptizer. And he sent his son. Problem is, when we start looking out only for our own interest.
When we try and do things for ourselves and just manipulate and make them work as we think they should be working. Oftentimes we end up living in the wrong stories. And I think I'm great.
And when I'm not doing great, I'm kind of angry at God. Why? Because I'm living in the wrong story. I've told you this story before, but it's a really good illustration of this.
There's a story of the couple who were married 60 years. They decided to downsize. And as they were going through the house, the husband discovers this little box.
Way back in the cupboard. Opens the box. There's two beautiful crochet dolls in the box.
And then there's also this envelope with $90,000 in it. And he's kind of stunned. So he walks in.
He says, look what I discovered. Do you know anything about this? He says, yeah. It's all me.
He says, tell the story. He says, well, when we got married, my grandmother called me. And she said, I want to give you some advice for your marriage.
When you get into a fight, don't fight. Go to your room. Go calm down and crochet a doll.
And just put it away. Put all the anger away with the doll. And he looked at this box.
And he thought, wow. In 60 years. He says, that's good.
But what about the $90,000? She said, well, after the second doll, I didn't have any more room for the dolls I crocheted. So I took them to the craft store and sold them for $5. He was living in the wrong story.
And sometimes we live in the wrong story. So I ask myself, what if I'm living in the wrong story? What if I'm living in the wrong story when I'm trying to take control and I'm not waiting for God to show up on that third day? What if I'm running after this world because the world says, this is what you should be doing. This is what you should be running after.
You want it all. You want it now. And if you don't get it now, then fine with you.
I'm going to do my own thing. What if Jesus says, verse 25, if you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you follow me and you give up your life for my sake, you will save the world.
Why? Why should I give up my life? Because in that moment that I surrender is when God shows up. God's power is not seen by our control in our lives. God did not raise Jesus because Jesus shied away from the cross.
God raised Jesus from the dead because Jesus was obedient and went to the cross. And on that third day, God showed up and Jesus walked. My question in the beginning was, who lives, who falls in my life? Can we just for a moment look at our own lives and ask the question in my life, have I surrendered? Who's in control when I get angry? Who's in control of my finances? Who's in control of my relationships? Who's in control of the emotions? Who's in control when I feel this world is overwhelming? Who lives? When you've answered that and when I've answered that, because remember what I've always said, every sermon I write is written for this person.
And then I come share it with you on my own life. So I ask these questions of myself. So here's my challenge for me, for us this morning.
Will you surrender? Will you take all of the things in your life, also the control, also the things that you're afraid of, also the things that you're not sure that you can let go, can you take those? And can we put them in the hands of our Father? The one who sent His Son into this world. The one who turned His back when His Son cried out, my God. And then the one who showed up on that third day and He opened that door.
Can we place it in the hands of the Lord and surrender? There's a song that we sing, I surrender all. I surrender all, all to Jesus. Will you take that? I'm going to give you a moment before I pray with you, just to think about what in my life is there that might, instead of helping me because I'm trying to control it, it's hurting me.
What is there in my life that this morning I can come and lay at the feet of Jesus and say, I surrender. You lead, I follow. I'm scared because it might lead to Jerusalem and there might be an angry mob and there might be the cross, but on the other side there's an open grave.
This is my Lord, I surrender. Take a moment and be quiet with the Lord and then I'll pray with you. Lord Jesus, when you invite us, your promises are never empty.
You've kept them all and you've fulfilled them all, more than we could ever think. And if you, if you come and you say, this is what I call you, surrender. Use your life, follow me.
I have more than you could ever think. We trust you. And you heard our hearts this morning.
As we just surrender, Lord, what needs to go to you. Thank you that you lead. Thank you that we may follow.
Sorry that sometimes we stumble and we take our own road and kind of want to do the Peter thing for a moment. Thank you that you are gracious because that is who you are. Thank you for the blessing of this morning.
Thank you for this blessing of this day. All these things we pray in the name of him who came in the name of the Lord, the one who can and did save us. Jesus, our Lord, our Saviour.
Amen.