On Maundy Thursday, the entry point into the Easter weekend, we hear about a ‘man of sorrows’ – who is this man of sorrows?
We know it’s Jesus, this man who is going through significant challenges on this night, where he is betrayed by his own in Judas and also misunderstood by his own in Peter, who does not understand what Jesus is teaching him in these moments.
So sorrow is one of the dominant themes here, Jesus is experiencing sorrow around what’s to come, and soon those around him will be in sorrow at what has happened.
These words from the song ‘Man of Sorrows’ that we’re going to hear in a moment really capture what this is all about, what Jesus has done and what it means for you and me >
Now my debt is paid, it is paid in full
By the precious blood that my Jesus spilled
Now the curse of sin has no hold on me
Whom the Son sets free is free indeed
There is incredible joy in these words > this is a song about a ‘man of sorrows,’ but in these words there is great joy, great hope, an incredible sense of the weight of all this. The life-changing nature of of Jesus’ death and resurrection for you and me.
We also hear about freedom in these words, another major theme for us tonight.
We have sorrow and we have freedom, two seemingly unrelated things that Jesus brings together! His sorrow earns our freedom, the cost of our freedom is his sorrow. Without his sorrow we would not be free, we would be stuck in sorrow!
But by his loving sacrifice for us, we are no longer in sorrow.
By his loving sacrifice for us, the debt has been paid, the curse of sin has no hold on us anymore.
By his loving sacrifice for us, we are set free!
This ‘man of sorrows’ gives up his life for the freedom of his people.
//
And then we come to Good Friday, and we see a man in the worst time of his life – not only a difficult period but a ‘dark night of the soul’ we might call it.
But not just ‘a man,’ this man is the Son of God, God come to be among us in human form. It’s the worst time in his life, things are going from bad to worse as we know.
This is a king who has come into the world, but his kingdom is not of this world. The only one who really knows what’s going on here is the one who is being subjected to it, all on his own, rejected, betrayed and misunderstood by those who knew him best. That’s a ‘dark night of the soul’ right there.
This is the point where it seems all hope is lost, there’s nothing more to do, it’s all over.
Even Jesus says so, when he says ‘It is finished’ on the cross.
But what’s really finished here?
Is it hope that’s finished, or is it actually sin and death that are finished?? Is it the ‘dark night of the soul’ that’s finishing here, to make way for something new…
We might be tempted to think it’s all over. As we hear again Jesus’ journey to the cross, how it only goes from bad to worse, how Jesus refuses to take the easy way out and goes all the way down the hardest road, this is a dark night of the soul indeed.
Jesus goes to hell and back > that’s actually what happens as we confess in our creed, he goes to hell and back in this dark night of the soul.
And for what?
Is it because our God is defeated, is it because our hope is gone, is it because God has given up on his people > he has every right to, going by the way we reject, betray and misunderstand Jesus time and time again.
No it’s not because our God is defeated, it’s not because our hope is gone, and it’s not because our God has given up on us > far from it, our God wins the ultimate victory here, we have more hope than ever before, and far from giving up he’s gone ‘all in’ on us!
This is how God wins, how God makes new, how God redeems > not in ways we would expect, and not for people who deserve it either.
But that’s how God bridges the gap > he bridges the gap between us and him because of our sin, by filling that gap with his love! He goes the distance for us, he shows us how much we mean to him despite our flaws and our failings, Jesus endures this ‘dark night of the soul’ to make way for something new…
And if we’re in a ‘dark night of the soul’ ourselves, if things are not looking good, even it’s looking like hope is gone > we can know we have a God who has gone all this way so we would know he loves us, we would know he is with us, we would know we have hope in him.
We can talk to him, we can ask him for help, we have a God who turns his ear towards us and hears our cries, who does not leave us, even in a ‘dark night of the soul.’
//
And finally, the MAJOR SHIFT of Easter Sunday morning comes…
So far there’s been a fair bit of quiet introspection, reflection on how much we needed what Jesus has done for us through Lent, through Maundy Thursday and through Good Friday as well. Important to do, good for us to sit with and to dwell in a little bit.
But today there’s a MAJOR SHIFT > it’s a BRIGHT NEW DAY!
We’re no longer in the sorrow, no longer enduring the ‘dark night of the soul’ > we’ve moved through those two in the past few days, and now it’s a BRIGHT NEW DAY.
We see this BRIGHT NEW DAY shining through as the penny drops for Mary in the garden outside the tomb, and she goes from sorrow and darkness, to the INCREDIBLE JOY AND LIGHT realizing that Jesus is alive, she has seen the Lord!
I remember back to Easter Sunday last year, a particularly special one personally having Zeke’s baptism that day > on days like that it’s a similar feeling to what Mary must’ve had > I have seen the Lord! Joy, hope, seeing and experiencing first-hand the good things of God. I hope you’ve had experiences like that, special times, planned or not, where like Mary we are hit by the unmistakable presence of God in our lives.
This is the good stuff, these are the THINGS ABOVE that Paul talks about in our second reading today.
What does he say in Colossians 3:2 – ‘Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.’
THINGS ABOVE, not earthly things.
This is not saying ‘have your head in the clouds’, ‘day-dream,’ ‘ignore what’s right in front of you’ > NOT what’s going on here. How do we know that?
Because we’re on earth, God reveals THINGS ABOVE through earthly things. This is how God reaches us.
Both THINGS ABOVE and earthly things co-exist, God has made the world and we are called to live within it, while we’re here.
And if we’re a bit unsure we’re to put our focus, what’s the anchor point for us here as we look to THINGS ABOVE > Hebrews 12:2 gives us some help on that – ‘fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.’
This is always our focus, always our main direction > fix our eyes on Jesus. Like Mary, she couldn’t look away, she had seen the Lord!
And ‘fixing our eyes on Jesus’ is not to ignore what else is going on around us, it’s to see how God speaks into our world, how what Jesus has done for us matters here and now in our real life.
So because of today, we get to be resurrection people – if we’re going to claim to be resurrection people, people who believe this has really happened and it really matters for our everyday life, not just for us but for all people, then we’re going to keep our eyes on the prize, the prize that is Jesus, what he has DONE and WON for us.
He is the pioneer, he is the perfector of faith, the one who brings THINGS ABOVE into the real world we’re living in today //
Tom Kitson 