Sunday, February 25, 2023

John 18:1–11

Early February is a great month for sports fans. For football fans, it’s a time to bask in the glory of the Super Bowl. The Kansas City Chiefs successfully repeated their run and now get to celebrate to fanfare and applause. Motivated by these Super Bowl celebrations, basketball and hockey teams return from the all-star breaks determined to finish strong and receive glory in their own championships. At the same time, spring training starts and baseball fans fantasize about the glory that could be. How does the new team look? Could this be our year?

The glory of victory is powerful.

“Glory” is an odd title for a sermon series about crucifixion. On the surface, there wasn’t much glory to it. No pop stars showed up to cheer Jesus on. Media outlets didn’t camp out looking for a scoop. There wasn’t any applause, parade, trophy, or confetti. And yet, Jesus said about his impending crucifixion, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (John 12:23 ESV).

John 18 represents another turning point in the Gospel. Having finished his final sermon (what we call “The Upper Room Discourse”) and his capstone prayer (sometimes called his “High Priestly Prayer”), Jesus moves from talk to action. He prepared his disciples for the cross, and now his hour has come.

The story of Jesus’s final days begins in the Garden of Gethsemane. As was destined, Judas gathers a mob of Roman soldiers and the temple police and comes out to the garden to arrest him. But, Jesus is not afraid. He is the Creator of the world and has nothing to fear from a gang with clubs and swords. This is his Super Bowl, and he puts his glory on display for all to see.

But it doesn’t look like what we might expect. Jesus has a different vision for glory. The kingdom of God turns our world upside down and makes sacrificial love the pathway to true glory. As always, Jesus shows us the way.

Join us this week as we look at Jesus’s faithfulness to the Father in the face of grave danger. In his courage and fidelity, we learn a lot about God’s love for us and his vision for the kind of lives we ought to live. It should be challenging and inspiring.

See you on Sunday!

Service times are at 9:00 & 11:00. If you can’t make it in person, you can watch live at those times.