The NCAA March Madness is going on as I write this. More than a hundred basketball games will determine the college basketball champions.
Imagine sitting on the bench during a game. The first string is playing, a couple more players go in and out, substituting as needed. But you are the ninth or tenth player on the team. You can't wait to get into the game...but will the coach have the confidence to call upon you? Will you have what it takes if the best players foul out and the coach calls upon you?
Jeremiah was definitely one of God's first string, a Prophet of God, giving everything he had for God.
Very soon after this, in 586 or 587 BC, the army of Babylon conquered Jerusalem and took away many of the people, particularly the sons and daughters of the noble families, including Daniel, and took them to serve in Babylon. Jeremiah, speaking on behalf of God, told them that they would serve 70 years.
Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 119:9-16; Hebrews 5:5-10; John 12:20-33
And then, in Jeremiah, Chapter 31, God sends, once again through Jeremiah, a message of hope.
“The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them,”
declares the Lord.
God is not happy with the Israelites who broke God's covenant repeatedly.
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
And we read in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah of the return from Babylon of the people of Israel under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah.
It was soon after that, that Ezra and Nehemiah led the people of Israel to unite one day and swear once again to the covenant with God, to obey God and follow God’s commands. The people of Israel decided to hold to the old covenant with God.
But it was not until the time of Jesus that another new covenant was made.
Up until the time of Jesus, the covenant between God and the Jewish nation extended only to the Jewish nation. God would protect them and they would abide by the commandments that God had given them through Moses.
But with Jesus, things changed.
In fact, the change was recognized on the very day of our Gospel reading by Jesus Himself.
According to John, Jesus and His disciples were at Jerusalem just after the great triumphal entry on Palm Sunday.
Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
The word used, hellenes, clearly means Greeks - those who claimed descent from Helen. Hellenes were those people who spoke Greek as their primary language, who followed Greek culture, and who generally worshiped the many gods and goddesses of the Greeks. It is also possible that these were Jews who lived in the Greek world, which at that time stretched from Babylon across Turkey through Greece up into Albania and much of today’s Serbia. As well, there were Greek cities in Palestine and even in Egypt. Cleopatra was Greek, as were many of the people who lived in Alexandria, Egypt.
The Greeks came to Philip. Philip was named after Alexander the Great’s father, Philip of Macedon, the kingdom just north of Greece that had conquered Greece during Philip’s reign. Alexander, of course, had conquered lands that stretched from Macedonia to Egypt and far to the east through Iraq and Iran and Afghanistan to modern day Pakistan.
Philip was from Bethsaida in Galilee, a town which was on the road around the north of the lake. With travelers passing through town, Philip likely spoke some Greek. He went to Andrew, Peter’s brother. Andrew must have had some Greek ancestry also, for the name Andrew means “manly” in the Greek language. And then, these two Greek-leaning Hebrew men went to speak to Jesus.
They probably expected a reaction like, “Sure, I’ll talk with them.” Or perhaps, “Tell them to come and visit after dark, when the crowds have gone away.” But Jesus apparently becomes agitated, for he immediately begins talking about his death and glorification.
Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
Why did a simple request to see Jesus by these men trigger such a response? What was so unusual about it that Jesus began to talk about his death and glorification?
To understand, we need to go way, way back in time.
The time is about 450 years before Moses and the Passover escape from Egypt by the Israelites. Israel – the other name of the man Jacob – has not been born yet. His father Isaac has not been born. Instead, the Genesis 14 story is focused upon Abraham – who is still called Abram.
Abram receives word that his nephew Lot has been taken for ransom by a group of cattle rustlers, along with all of Lot’s livestock. Abram organizes a rescue party and posse that goes to retrieve Lot and his livestock, as well as a bunch of other loot that was taken by the bandits from the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, where Lot was living. Abram and his men win the battle and bring back the captives, as well as much loot.
In Genesis 14:18, the king of Salem – the city whose name means “peace”, the city that would eventually become known as Jerusalem – the king comes out of his city bringing bread and wine. The king’s name is Melchizedek, and he is described as the Priest of God Most High. He blesses Abram, saying:
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Creator of heaven and earth.
And praise be to God Most High,
who delivered your enemies into your hand.”
Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
There are some interesting themes in this meeting, beside being the first recorded tithe.
There is the king of peace that brings us bread and wine. Who else do you know that freely gives us bread and wine?
The writer of Hebrews is certain. He writes:
after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
And we read in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah of the return from Babylon of the people of Israel under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah.
It was soon after that, that Ezra and Nehemiah led the people of Israel to unite one day and swear once again to the covenant with God, to obey God and follow God’s commands. The people of Israel decided to hold to the old covenant with God.
But it was not until the time of Jesus that another new covenant was made.
Up until the time of Jesus, the covenant between God and the Jewish nation extended only to the Jewish nation. God would protect them and they would abide by the commandments that God had given them through Moses.
But with Jesus, things changed.
In fact, the change was recognized on the very day of our Gospel reading by Jesus Himself.
According to John, Jesus and His disciples were at Jerusalem just after the great triumphal entry on Palm Sunday.
Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
The word used, hellenes, clearly means Greeks - those who claimed descent from Helen. Hellenes were those people who spoke Greek as their primary language, who followed Greek culture, and who generally worshiped the many gods and goddesses of the Greeks. It is also possible that these were Jews who lived in the Greek world, which at that time stretched from Babylon across Turkey through Greece up into Albania and much of today’s Serbia. As well, there were Greek cities in Palestine and even in Egypt. Cleopatra was Greek, as were many of the people who lived in Alexandria, Egypt.
The Greeks came to Philip. Philip was named after Alexander the Great’s father, Philip of Macedon, the kingdom just north of Greece that had conquered Greece during Philip’s reign. Alexander, of course, had conquered lands that stretched from Macedonia to Egypt and far to the east through Iraq and Iran and Afghanistan to modern day Pakistan.
Philip was from Bethsaida in Galilee, a town which was on the road around the north of the lake. With travelers passing through town, Philip likely spoke some Greek. He went to Andrew, Peter’s brother. Andrew must have had some Greek ancestry also, for the name Andrew means “manly” in the Greek language. And then, these two Greek-leaning Hebrew men went to speak to Jesus.
They probably expected a reaction like, “Sure, I’ll talk with them.” Or perhaps, “Tell them to come and visit after dark, when the crowds have gone away.” But Jesus apparently becomes agitated, for he immediately begins talking about his death and glorification.
Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
Why did a simple request to see Jesus by these men trigger such a response? What was so unusual about it that Jesus began to talk about his death and glorification?
To understand, we need to go way, way back in time.
The time is about 450 years before Moses and the Passover escape from Egypt by the Israelites. Israel – the other name of the man Jacob – has not been born yet. His father Isaac has not been born. Instead, the Genesis 14 story is focused upon Abraham – who is still called Abram.
Abram receives word that his nephew Lot has been taken for ransom by a group of cattle rustlers, along with all of Lot’s livestock. Abram organizes a rescue party and posse that goes to retrieve Lot and his livestock, as well as a bunch of other loot that was taken by the bandits from the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, where Lot was living. Abram and his men win the battle and bring back the captives, as well as much loot.
In Genesis 14:18, the king of Salem – the city whose name means “peace”, the city that would eventually become known as Jerusalem – the king comes out of his city bringing bread and wine. The king’s name is Melchizedek, and he is described as the Priest of God Most High. He blesses Abram, saying:
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Creator of heaven and earth.
And praise be to God Most High,
who delivered your enemies into your hand.”
Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
There are some interesting themes in this meeting, beside being the first recorded tithe.
There is the king of peace that brings us bread and wine. Who else do you know that freely gives us bread and wine?
The writer of Hebrews is certain. He writes:
In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him,
“You are my Son;
today I have become your Father.”
And he says in another place,
“You are a priest forever,
in the order of Melchizedek.”
And then, the writer goes even further and claims about Jesus:
Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
In the Old Testament, there are two orders of priests written about:
There is the Levitical priesthood, the priests who are descended from Jacob’s son Levi, in the same tribe as Aaron, the priests who served in the Temple of God, performing the sacrifices, slaying the bulls, the cattle, the sheep, the doves, receiving the grain offerings, making the music, and even controlling the doors of the Temple. The Levitical priesthood continued to perform these sacrifices and duties - with a few breaks - from the time of Moses to 70 AD, when the Temple was destroyed in Jerusalem. As long as there was a Tabernacle or Temple, the Levitical priesthood served.
Even today, when the time comes to read scripture in an orthodox Jewish synagogue, a kohen, a direct male descendant of Aaron is given first priority, then a Levite is selected to read what is left. Thus, the Levitical/Aaronite priesthood is still present, awaiting the rebuilding of the Temple to begin the sacrifices once again.
But there is a second order of priests. It is the order of Melchizedek, the king of Salem, the king of Peace, the priest of God most High who brings bread and wine to Abram and blesses Abram.
What makes this order of Melchizedek different from the Levites, is that the Levites were only sent to serve in the Temple of God, a single place on earth, and in the local ceremonies of a single people, the descendants of Israel, the man also know as Jacob, the son of Isaac and the grandson of Abraham.
But Melchizedek serves God on behalf of all people of the world.
Some of the ancient rabbis identified Melchizedek as Shem, Noah’s son who was still alive at the time, but most Christian commentators identify Melchizedek as the Christ on earth, the high priest to God of all people.
That day in Jerusalem when the Greeks came to Philip and Andrew, and they brought those men to meet Jesus, Jesus recognized that the world outside of the Jews had recognized his ministry. Imagine that we are standing there with Jesus and the disciples that final week in Jerusalem…
Jesus continues:
Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
Do you love your life? If so, you will lose it someday. Do you hate this life in this world? Lose it and leave it behind, change to a new life in Christ, and you will gain an eternal life.
Jesus says: Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
“You are my Son;
today I have become your Father.”
And he says in another place,
“You are a priest forever,
in the order of Melchizedek.”
And then, the writer goes even further and claims about Jesus:
Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
In the Old Testament, there are two orders of priests written about:
There is the Levitical priesthood, the priests who are descended from Jacob’s son Levi, in the same tribe as Aaron, the priests who served in the Temple of God, performing the sacrifices, slaying the bulls, the cattle, the sheep, the doves, receiving the grain offerings, making the music, and even controlling the doors of the Temple. The Levitical priesthood continued to perform these sacrifices and duties - with a few breaks - from the time of Moses to 70 AD, when the Temple was destroyed in Jerusalem. As long as there was a Tabernacle or Temple, the Levitical priesthood served.
Even today, when the time comes to read scripture in an orthodox Jewish synagogue, a kohen, a direct male descendant of Aaron is given first priority, then a Levite is selected to read what is left. Thus, the Levitical/Aaronite priesthood is still present, awaiting the rebuilding of the Temple to begin the sacrifices once again.
But there is a second order of priests. It is the order of Melchizedek, the king of Salem, the king of Peace, the priest of God most High who brings bread and wine to Abram and blesses Abram.
What makes this order of Melchizedek different from the Levites, is that the Levites were only sent to serve in the Temple of God, a single place on earth, and in the local ceremonies of a single people, the descendants of Israel, the man also know as Jacob, the son of Isaac and the grandson of Abraham.
But Melchizedek serves God on behalf of all people of the world.
Some of the ancient rabbis identified Melchizedek as Shem, Noah’s son who was still alive at the time, but most Christian commentators identify Melchizedek as the Christ on earth, the high priest to God of all people.
That day in Jerusalem when the Greeks came to Philip and Andrew, and they brought those men to meet Jesus, Jesus recognized that the world outside of the Jews had recognized his ministry. Imagine that we are standing there with Jesus and the disciples that final week in Jerusalem…
- Now, the Greeks would spread word of Jesus outside of Judea.
- Now, the Greeks would tell the stories of Jesus to the world from Iran to Egypt through Roman Turkey into Greece.
- Now, the Gospel story of Jesus’ sacrifice would travel throughout the world and not remain in Jerusalem.
Jesus continues:
Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
Do you love your life? If so, you will lose it someday. Do you hate this life in this world? Lose it and leave it behind, change to a new life in Christ, and you will gain an eternal life.
Jesus says: Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
God ... is ready to send you into the game!
Will you follow Jesus or just watch Jesus this Easter season. As you watch Jesus teach us and then sacrifice for us, will you follow Him to the foot of the cross or will you return to Galilee to take up your old life? Will you step forward as Lucian did to carry the cross, or will you disappear as Thomas did? The Father will honor the man or woman who follows Jesus and serves Him.
“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.
Will you follow Jesus or just watch Jesus this Easter season. As you watch Jesus teach us and then sacrifice for us, will you follow Him to the foot of the cross or will you return to Galilee to take up your old life? Will you step forward as Lucian did to carry the cross, or will you disappear as Thomas did? The Father will honor the man or woman who follows Jesus and serves Him.
“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.
Here, Jesus' words are almost the same as Esther's words when she stepped forward to save the Jews from destruction. But Jesus will save all people - not just one nation. And Jesus continues: Father, glorify your name!”
Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
And then John comments: He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
When Jesus died upon the Cross, He not only sacrificed Himself for our sins, but He also died as that wheat seed dies, to undergo a transformation that leads to a vast multiplication of God’s love for all people through the Holy Spirit. For we must remember that in the original languages, Spirit and Breath and Wind are the same word. There is no difference between these three words in the original Greek.
For when Jesus returned, He brought the Holy Spirit, the Holy Breath of God back and breathed it upon the disciples. And on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Wind of God blew upon all the assembled people and then began to multiply. By the end of that day, over 3000 people had been baptized, receiving the Holy Spirit, and had been given new life by the Holy Breath of God.
And then, there was born the third priesthood, the priesthood of all people, the priesthood of the Holy Spirit, like wheat seed spreading over the earth.
When you have chosen to believe and be baptized, you receive the Holy Spirit – and you have the same Holy Spirit in you that spoke to Jeremiah, the same Spirit that spoke to Philip the Evangelist, the same Spirit that burned at Pentecost.
The Apostle Peter wrote in I Peter 2:9 - But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
Look around you. Say to your neighbor: “Neighbor, you are a priest of God”.
The great problem with the church today is that we are afraid to listen and believe in the Holy Spirit which is even now speaking to us. We look at ourselves, our powers and our limitations far too much, and we don’t listen to the Holy Spirit enough. We don’t believe in the Holy Spirit – most of us are blessed that we believe in God and maybe Jesus. But God knows what God can do with a Christ-following believer who listens and believes in the Holy Spirit. And if you will admit it, each of you who has been baptized has received the Holy Spirit, that direct connection to God and the power of God that can change things in this world and send Satan running.
Take upon you this honor….and power….and glory with the humbleness that those who truly understand how high and mighty God is – and with the awe of understanding that God has entrusted His children to become that strange group of people called Christian, those people with the Holy Wind of God at their backs. God has called your number and is ready to send you into the game!
If you would take upon you this priesthood, there are a handful of things you’ll need to do. It involves speaking to God and listening.
First of all, say to God, “Why me, O Lord?”
And then LISTEN for God's response!
Second, recognize that this is the doing of the King of the Universe and not our doing. Think of what that means about God’s confidence in you. God knows you can do it! Take a moment and consider...
But how do you know what God is asking of you?
The answer is that it tears you up inside, it makes you want to cry, it is a voice that tells you that you can make a difference and a vision that shows you what you are to do to make a difference. You may feel that people dying without God is terrible, you may feel that children growing up without encouragement is horrible, you may feel that older people living by themselves and lonely is the worst thing, you may feel that poverty should never happen, you may feel that our world needs more people to share your artistic passions, you may feel that it is a terrible shame, all those people in Japan or Europe or Asia or Africa who will die without knowing the Love of Jesus.
Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
And then John comments: He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
When Jesus died upon the Cross, He not only sacrificed Himself for our sins, but He also died as that wheat seed dies, to undergo a transformation that leads to a vast multiplication of God’s love for all people through the Holy Spirit. For we must remember that in the original languages, Spirit and Breath and Wind are the same word. There is no difference between these three words in the original Greek.
For when Jesus returned, He brought the Holy Spirit, the Holy Breath of God back and breathed it upon the disciples. And on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Wind of God blew upon all the assembled people and then began to multiply. By the end of that day, over 3000 people had been baptized, receiving the Holy Spirit, and had been given new life by the Holy Breath of God.
And then, there was born the third priesthood, the priesthood of all people, the priesthood of the Holy Spirit, like wheat seed spreading over the earth.
When you have chosen to believe and be baptized, you receive the Holy Spirit – and you have the same Holy Spirit in you that spoke to Jeremiah, the same Spirit that spoke to Philip the Evangelist, the same Spirit that burned at Pentecost.
The Apostle Peter wrote in I Peter 2:9 - But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
Look around you. Say to your neighbor: “Neighbor, you are a priest of God”.
The great problem with the church today is that we are afraid to listen and believe in the Holy Spirit which is even now speaking to us. We look at ourselves, our powers and our limitations far too much, and we don’t listen to the Holy Spirit enough. We don’t believe in the Holy Spirit – most of us are blessed that we believe in God and maybe Jesus. But God knows what God can do with a Christ-following believer who listens and believes in the Holy Spirit. And if you will admit it, each of you who has been baptized has received the Holy Spirit, that direct connection to God and the power of God that can change things in this world and send Satan running.
Take upon you this honor….and power….and glory with the humbleness that those who truly understand how high and mighty God is – and with the awe of understanding that God has entrusted His children to become that strange group of people called Christian, those people with the Holy Wind of God at their backs. God has called your number and is ready to send you into the game!
If you would take upon you this priesthood, there are a handful of things you’ll need to do. It involves speaking to God and listening.
First of all, say to God, “Why me, O Lord?”
And then LISTEN for God's response!
Second, recognize that this is the doing of the King of the Universe and not our doing. Think of what that means about God’s confidence in you. God knows you can do it! Take a moment and consider...
But how do you know what God is asking of you?
The answer is that it tears you up inside, it makes you want to cry, it is a voice that tells you that you can make a difference and a vision that shows you what you are to do to make a difference. You may feel that people dying without God is terrible, you may feel that children growing up without encouragement is horrible, you may feel that older people living by themselves and lonely is the worst thing, you may feel that poverty should never happen, you may feel that our world needs more people to share your artistic passions, you may feel that it is a terrible shame, all those people in Japan or Europe or Asia or Africa who will die without knowing the Love of Jesus.
If the voice inside you makes you want to cry because this particular problem is so terrible – it is probably the Holy Spirit speaking to you and God is standing there ready to help you accomplish great things for God’s mission, great things that will go a long way toward fixing that particular problem of the world, the problem that your weep over. Think of what that means about God’s confidence in you – and what God is ready to do through you...
Third, come forward to pray and ask the King of the Universe to speak to you – and then listen for God’s response.
There is one final task God asks of you today. Go into the world and do what God has asked of you – knowing that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit will always be with you. CHANGE…THE…WORLD!!!
Third, come forward to pray and ask the King of the Universe to speak to you – and then listen for God’s response.
There is one final task God asks of you today. Go into the world and do what God has asked of you – knowing that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit will always be with you. CHANGE…THE…WORLD!!!
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