Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to a live recording from Westside Church in Bend, Oregon. Thanks for joining us.
It's Palm Sunday, as Evan referenced. And the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem is the part of this story, the history, the greater history, even before Jesus, that 150 years prior to this moment, Judas Maccabius was a Jewish leader who led his people to victory over the Seleucid dynasty.
After leading them to victory, the crowd celebrated by waving palm branches. But as Jesus is riding into Jerusalem on this donkey, people are waving palm branches, right? And Judas, Judas Maccabius, the hammer, as he was known as, stamped an image of these palm branches into coins, which symbolized the victory for the Jewish people over their oppressors.
Then, 150 years later, the Jews again are under an oppressive regime, under foreign rule. In the Romans, they wave palm branches in the air, shouting hosanna.
The pastor, Rich Velodas out of New York City, says, this is the people encouraging and worshiping Jesus and saying, rescue us. But in their own way, they're saying it, but do it like it's been done before.
Save us and rescue us in the way that we are comfortable and familiar with.
Be a military savior, lead us to battle and conquer the Romans.
But Jesus, of course, rescues us in ways that we don't always understand.
And this is especially true with his sacrifice for us on the cross.
And so now we turn our attention in the story to a disciple who is very much of the belief of this, that he's hoping that there is some kind of revolution coming from Jesus in the form of dominating the Romans in battle. And that is Peter. Peter is a disciple who is a little reactionary, a lot reactionary, pretty emotional. Maybe you know, someone like this that reacts pretty harshly in a moment sometimes or is a little overtly emotional.
[00:02:13] Speaker B: Maybe someone preaching to you right now.
[00:02:15] Speaker A: With this microphone is that way.
Just ask my wife.
And so whenever I read narrative about Peter, I want to be critical. I want to say, how could he? And yet I read his story and I go, of course he did.
I know that feeling that's rising up in his heart and his soul. I know that defense mechanism. I know those promises that you make overtly in an emotional state that you can't possibly keep. And so Peter wants to see his people, and of course he does. It makes perfect sense. He wants to see his oppressed people that he loves so much come to freedom.
And he is holding out hope that Jesus can be exactly what he hopes.
And it says in Mark 14, verse 27, it says, on the way Jesus Told them, the disciples, all of you will desert me. For the scriptures say God will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. But after I'm raised from the dead, I'll go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.
Peter said to him, even if everyone else deserts you, I never will. God, I love this guy.
Jesus, I know you think you know a lot of things, but you clearly don't know me. I'm better than this.
And Jesus replies, I tell you the truth, Peter. This very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times that you even know me.
No. Peter declared emphatically, even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you.
And all of the others vowed the same.
No way, says Peter.
And his intentions are good. They're great. Even again, I identify with Peter's heart.
[00:04:05] Speaker B: He's saying, no, I'm faithful and I'm loyal to you.
[00:04:07] Speaker A: I know the right answers to these questions, and I know that there's people that are out to get you. But I am not one of them, and I will remain so even to the point of death.
As the story continues on, Jesus is arrested. He begins to be abused and beaten among the religious leaders. They're crying out that he is a blasphemer and that he is guilty of such charges. They begin to spit on him, and they blindfold him, and they beat him more with their fists. And they're screaming to him, prophesy, to us, Jesus.
And then it picks up again in verse 66 says, Meanwhile, Peter was in the courtyard below these things. And one of the servant girls who worked for the high priest came by and noticed Peter warming himself at the fire. And she looked at him closely and said, you were one of those with Jesus of Nazareth. But Peter denied it. I don't know what you're talking about, he said. And he went out into the entryway. And just then, a rooster crowed.
And when the servant girl saw him standing there, she began telling the others, this man is definitely one of them. But Peter denied it again. And a little later, some of the other bystanders confronted Peter and said, you must be one of them because you're a Galilean.
And Peter swore a curse on me. If I'm lying, I do not know this man that you're talking about.
Again, people like that share Peter and I's personality. When we get caught like this, we tend to get bigger and louder in the process.
A curse on me.
[00:05:40] Speaker B: I swear, I do not know this man.
[00:05:43] Speaker A: And just as big and Loud as Peter was in talking with Jesus, saying, I would never deny you, he is in fact using that same feeling to deny. Jesus says immediately a rooster crowed a second time and suddenly Jesus words flashed through Peter's mind. Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times that you even know me. And he broke down and he wept.
Peter alone in the darkness, afraid in his shame.
Now there's two disciples that end up alone in this process. There's 10 that have scattered and fled and have gone into hiding. And there's two. One being Judas, who betrayed the Jesus to the authorities, who goes on to take his own life. He finds himself in solitude in this moment, disconnected from his community and his people that he has walked with for the last several years.
And then there's Peter, who so overtly said he would stick with Jesus, indeed denies him again. One takes his own life and one ends up being restored, who ends up planting the church that Jesus said that he would down the road.
So what's the difference in their two outcomes?
Both have made mistakes and both are experiencing deep, deep shame.
Both in this moment are probably passing judgment on their own selves.
But one remains and lives and builds and one dies.
See, this loneliness creates this difficulty and this shame, this darkness does so as well.
Being alone and in the dark does things to our minds that is pretty scary.
I shared a few stories before about walking my dog Roland, who's a hundred and ten pound, lab kind of looking dog.
That sounds very scary. He's got that snarl, that deep, guttural.
But he is the wimpiest dog ever.
And sometimes when I've been gone all day and Roland hasn't had a lot of activity, I'll come home later in the evening at 7 or 8 and put the kids to bed. And Roland is as annoying as ever. He's got a tail that's about this thick and he just whacks it against the walls when he's enthusiastic. And so I'll take him, put the leash on, and even at night I'll take him out, put on the headlamp and take him for a little bit of a walk.
And our neighborhood is incredibly safe. There is nothing to worry about. And yet in the dark my mind will tell me there are all kinds of things to be afraid of. And so I walked past this house a couple weeks ago that they took the planks out of their wooden fence, I think, to bring some vehicles in and out and somebody at some point had put a small table and then stacked bricks up and then put Some kind of tablecloth or cloth over the top of those bricks right near the entryway into this fence. And when I turned the corner and I walked past that part of the fence, walking my dog that looked very much like a ghost at 9:30pm near Lava Ridge Elementary School, I saw a phantom and I screamed.
[00:09:12] Speaker B: I came around the corner.
[00:09:13] Speaker A: I went, roland's looking at me like this.
[00:09:16] Speaker B: And it looked. It didn't just look like, you know.
[00:09:19] Speaker A: Something like a ghost, but it looked like a ghost that was looking at me like this.
You know, I was, like, so afraid.
My heart rate is still racing.
[00:09:30] Speaker B: I'm kind of on the verge of.
[00:09:32] Speaker A: Tears and laughing at the same time. You know, like, pull myself together, continue to walk. And I get to the other side of Lava Ridge, and there's a car that's coming toward me. And I look behind me at just the wrong time, and I look back, and this car is projecting my own shadow on the tree immediately behind me. And I go, whoa.
And my dog is looking at me like, what are you doing? Like, I'm kind of a fraidy cat myself.
[00:10:04] Speaker B: What are you doing?
And I do this exact same walk in the day.
[00:10:08] Speaker A: I walk past the pile of bricks.
[00:10:10] Speaker B: On top of a table, underneath a tablecloth, and it is really funny to me.
And yet I walk past that thing again the next night. And I'm like, I gotta gear up.
[00:10:19] Speaker A: For this walk around the corner. Cause that scary little wraith is right there.
There's something that happens to our minds in dark and lonely places.
We begin to believe things about our environment and about ourselves that aren't necessarily true.
They cause us to behave in ways that are unnatural or unintended from us.
And what happens to Peter and to Judas in this scenario is that both of them begin to pass some kind of judgment on themselves. Judas, all the way to the end, he felt like he was completely impossible to redeem after what he had done.
There was nothing from Jesus that said, you cannot be saved. Your sin is too great. Now go and take your own life in a field.
Judas drew that conclusion in his own loneliness.
Now the temptation for Peter would be to wallow in this shame, to disqualify himself. I had made such a moment out.
[00:11:22] Speaker B: Of this with Jesus, where I declared boldly and loudly and courageously that I.
[00:11:26] Speaker A: Would never leave you.
[00:11:27] Speaker B: And yet I did exactly what he told me I would do.
[00:11:34] Speaker A: Dietrich Bonhoeffer says it this way. And Dr. Brandt Himes on our staff, who is a Bonhoeffer expert, pointed me in the direction of this section of Scripture that teaches my message for me, but I'm going to frame it this way. Bonhoeffer describes it as the problem. He says, sin wants to be alone with people.
The more lonely people become, the more destructive the power of sin over them.
The more deeply they become entangled in it, the more unholy is their loneliness.
Sin wants to remain unknown. It shuns the light. And in the darkness of what is left unsaid, sin poisons the whole being person.
See, we get so caught up in the problem being the sin in and of itself. I have some news for you. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. You will make mistakes. You will find yourselves doing things that you wish that you hadn't, and you will have regrets.
Show me someone that has no regrets in this life, and I will show you someone that I am deathly afraid to spend time with.
We've all done things that we look back, and if we could have done them a little bit differently and saved ourselves or others some heartache, we would do so differently, and we'll make those same decisions again.
And so the problem doesn't become an act or the sin in and of itself, but it's the loneliness that we try to create around the sin. We try then to hide ourselves, to go completely inward, to remove ourselves from.
[00:13:08] Speaker B: Any situation in which we would be exposed.
[00:13:10] Speaker A: But the truth of the matter is.
[00:13:12] Speaker B: That when we hide ourselves, we don't make progress. Instead, when we hide ourselves, we continue.
[00:13:17] Speaker A: To go into that darkness where sin then grows and grows, and we begin to pass judgment on ourselves, as Judas did, saying, not only have I done something wrong, but I am the thing that is wrong. I, in and of myself, am the dysfunction. I am brokenness beyond repair, and what I deserve is death.
That is what darkness and loneliness will yield for us.
So what's the solution? And somewhere along the way, Peter finds this. The solution, as Bonhoeffer says, is in confession. The light of the gospel breaks into the darkness and closed isolation of the heart. Sin must be brought into the light.
Now, I want to make it clear this has been distorted over the history of the world, but I would say, especially the history of the Church. We use this idea of sin being brought into the light. And really what we mean is we'd like to gossip about other people, or we'd like to publicly shame others for what they have done, draw that out into the light, draw the people out into the light so that we might mock and persecute them more.
But of course, that is not the solution, our sin and our regret must be brought out in light of confession.
Not so that we might experience more shame, but instead so that we might experience the true grace and forgiveness that Jesus offers.
You see, we get to practice this as human beings now. I think it's a bummer socially that.
[00:14:58] Speaker B: We don't do confession very well.
[00:15:00] Speaker A: We don't confess our sins to each other very well because we don't often do the other side of the equation very well.
Maybe you've experienced in your life you've confessed something to someone and then they actually just gossiped and shame you some more. Life got way harder because of your confessing of sin or something you had done to someone. And what does that do? That actually continues to pull us back into isolation.
Proper confession in light of who Jesus is and his forgiveness takes two people trying to seek after the heart of God.
See, Bonhoeffer describes the process as this. He says, those who confess their sins in the presence of another Christian know that they are no longer alone with themselves. They experience the presence of God in the reality of another.
The other Christian has been given to me so that I may be assured, even here and now, the reality of God and judgment and grace. As the acknowledgment of my sins to another person frees me from the grip of self deception, so too the promise of forgiveness becomes fully certain to me only when it is spoken by another believer as God's command. And in God's name, confession before one another is given to us by God so that we may be assured of divine forgiveness.
A way of saying this is, how do I know that God is real and his forgiveness is for me, I have seen it in the life and in the words of another believer. To me, we get to practice this together.
Some of you are coming into church and feeling like church is one of the most judgmental places on the face of the earth. And I would say, based on much of my experience, you would be right.
But when church is done, well, it's a place where we can confess our sins.
We can repent and turn from what we have done and who we have been, and we can be received with immense grace and forgiveness.
That's what the church is meant to be.
The church doesn't cancel people.
Church doesn't throw people out in their shame.
The church doesn't enable abuse and wrongdoing to continue on and for the oppressed to continue to be further oppressed. That's not true.
[00:17:27] Speaker B: But if the church is not a place where everyone can find redemption Then what are we?
We've completely lost the plot.
[00:17:37] Speaker A: Now, I'll give you this. It's much easier to draw lines around people based on one trait or one act that they have done.
[00:17:45] Speaker B: It is much easier to put people.
[00:17:46] Speaker A: In buckets because then I can walk in life with clear friends and enemies.
[00:17:53] Speaker B: But the complexity and the difficulty of the Christian life is that we can welcome in all kinds of people into.
[00:17:58] Speaker A: Community out of isolation, into darkness, where.
[00:18:01] Speaker B: Judgment can arise from our own ideas.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: And our own brokenness.
And we can actually be received and brought into this beautiful and warm and welcoming light, not one that simply seeks to expose and shame.
The AAPostle Paul in First Corinthians says that love bears all things.
And what this is is actually a word picture of like a shelter or a roof over the top of one who is in need.
It's a shelter from the storm is what love does.
We are called to be such a people in community that when we receive the confession of one another, we get to experience the true grace of God and. And the forgiveness that God offers in our own words and our own actions.
The short version of the last six minutes is, you are welcome here.
[00:18:55] Speaker B: And I genuinely mean it when I say it doesn't matter what you done.
[00:18:58] Speaker A: Or what you think you have done.
[00:18:59] Speaker B: Or what you think will be judged here.
[00:19:01] Speaker A: You belong in this place because you belong with Jesus. And we seek to behave and to act and to love as he did.
And here's great evidence of it. So to close the loop on Peter's storyline, this is a peek into post death and resurrection Jesus. So spoiler alert for Easter. Okay, After Jesus has died and risen again from the grave, and the disciples have seen him a couple times, the disciples are out fishing as they do, as many of them are fishermen, Jesus calls to them from the shoreline and he says, bring some of the fish you've just caught. Jesus said. So Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore. He says, now come and have some breakfast. Jesus said, one of the greatest commands that Jesus ever issued. By the way, come and have breakfast. Ooh, yes, sir.
I just need a moment after. Just kidding.
None of the disciples dared to ask him, who are you? They knew it was the Lord. And then Jesus served them bread and the fish.
This is the third time that Jesus had appeared to the disciples since he'd been raised from the dead. And after breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?
So this moment is more powerful when we consider some of the history of Peter that When Peter is called by Jesus, he's known as Simon, which is a reed. And if you grew up around lakes and areas of water, you see reeds that are easily moved by the wind and the waves.
And Jesus renames him Peter during the process of his discipleship, symbolic of the fact that he is the rock on which the church that will go forward will be built. And yet, at this moment, at the end of Jesus time with the disciples, after his death and his resurrection, after he denies Jesus before his crucifixion, Jesus comes and says, very intentionally, simon, do you love me?
He says, yes, Lord. Peter replied, you know I love you.
Then feed my lambs. Jesus told him. And Jesus repeated the question, simon, do you love me? Yes, Lord. Peter said, you know that I love you. Then take care of my sheep. Jesus said the third time, he asked him, simon, son of John, do you love me? And Peter was hurt now that Jesus had asked the question a third time.
He says, lord, you know everything. You know that I love you. And Jesus said, then feed my sheep.
You see, he recalls, Simon, it's as if Jesus comes to breakfast and he puts his arm around him and he takes a moment with this one who is feeling vulnerable at this time. You've ever sat down at a table with a parent or a loved one that knows the mistake that you had just made. And they look you in the eyes, and it takes a moment to have that intimate moment and look back and Jesus says, simon, as if to say, I know everything about you.
[00:22:16] Speaker B: I know your history. I know what you've done. I know what you said you would not do. And I know what you did.
[00:22:22] Speaker A: I know you.
[00:22:24] Speaker B: I know that you're Simon. I know that you walk around this place like you're Peter, like you've been lifting weights and you've been taking protein shakes, and you're going to go ahead and be out, and you're going to be the rock on which this church is built. You're the leader of this discipleship group. I know. I know who you are, Peter. I know who you want to be. I know how you see yourself. But you know who I know.
[00:22:44] Speaker A: I know, Simon.
And you know what?
I love Simon.
And I love you, Peter.
Your acts are not a disqualifying factor.
So don't make up in your own mind this kind of judgment that says that you don't belong or you can't be with me because I want to be with you in all of your brokeness, you who are addicts, you who.
[00:23:11] Speaker B: Are covered in the shame of some decisions or wonderings that you have. Those of you who've had much faith and those who feel like you have felt like you've fallen short in every single moment. Those of you who feel abandoned still by parents, those of you who feel like you made major mistakes in your romantic and love relationships, those of you who haven't loved well enough, those of you who wished you took the right turn instead of the left turn. Jesus knows.
And so I want to encourage you as you walk in here today as we take communion in a moment, let's not pretend to be something other than what we are. Church is never meant to be this place where we put on this veneer and this sheen and we say, I just want to project an image so that others, and Jesus, in fact, will see me as something greater than I am. This is the place where we come to the table and we confess of our sins.
[00:24:01] Speaker A: We.
[00:24:01] Speaker B: We ask for forgiveness, believing that he is faithful and just to grant us that forgiveness. It's a place that we can participate in as people and with God in knowing that all of us belong in this place and at this table. Because this forgiveness goes far beyond our.
[00:24:17] Speaker A: Wildest dreams and imaginations.
This is the church. This is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And so right now, I'm going to invite those of you who need the communion elements brought to you. Would you go ahead and raise your hand? And somebody's going to come around to you.
Go ahead and keep them up. I don't want to miss you.
I'm going to have the prayer team come forward and prepare to pray.
They would love to pray for you during the communion moment or immediately following service.
Those prayer volunteers, you guys can go ahead and come up right now if you like.
Why don't you go ahead and stand with me and we'll prepare to take communion.
Can I encourage you to take communion? This way? So, first of all, if you're new to this practice, this is the remembering of Jesus, Last Supper before his death, as Evan preached on just this last week. And what we do is we take the cracker and we dip it in the cup. We don't dip our fingers in the cup, for that is the only unforgivable sin.
You see somebody come up and dip and half the line leaves after they watch, well, not today.
And we then eat the bread with the juice. And it's this remembering. It's this reattaching Jesus, love and death and sacrifice for us so that we might do the same for the world around Us as we do so today, can I encourage you to do it with a heart posture that says, I'm not gonna pretend or fake this thing anymore.
For those of you who are living in isolation and darkness and shame, where you began to believe that I not am just somebody that has done something wrong, but I am wrong. My wiring everything about me was never.
[00:26:26] Speaker B: Meant to do this the right way.
[00:26:28] Speaker A: The mistakes that you have made, they are not you. They are difficulties along the way. They are denials of Jesus along the way. They are participation in sin along the way.
[00:26:39] Speaker B: But it's not the sin that kills us. It's that isolation that turns into self.
[00:26:43] Speaker A: Judgment that we believe that we don't. We cannot possibly engage in the grace and forgiveness of Jesus. We have to push against that today. So come to the table in all honesty, with all that you are, with every regret and difficulty, and offer it to Jesus today, with every difficult conversation that you've had or you're about to have, give it to him. So in First Corinthians 11, it says, on the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and he gave thanks to God for it. And then he broke it in pieces and said, this is my body which is given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.
In the same way he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, this cup is a new covenant between God and his people, an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it. The bread and the cup are powerful symbol of Jesus sacrifice. Christ's body given for you, his blood shed for you on the cross.
No one is obligated to participate, but everyone is welcome.
You who have much faith and those of you who would like to have more, you who have tried to follow Jesus and those of you who have failed, those of you who are in broken relationships, who feel abandoned, who feel an overwhelming sense of shame, who feel like you are irreparable and unredeemable.
For those of you who have contemplated taking your own life, for those of.
[00:28:05] Speaker B: You who feel like you've never belonged.
[00:28:06] Speaker A: In any group or any community, for.
[00:28:08] Speaker B: Those of you who have never given.
[00:28:10] Speaker A: Forgiveness, for those of you who are seeking forgiveness, come to the table.
Christ has died and Christ has risen. And Christ will come again.
Come, Holy Spirit.
Jesus, we offer ourselves to you, our whole, true, authentic selves. With every difficult part of the story, with every beautiful victory part of the story, we come to the table. Today we remember you.
We cry out hosanna, believing that you are our Savior. But I pray that we would have a heart that is humble enough to say save us in whatever way you see fit. We trust and give ourselves to you and your will. Today we give up our shame for the greatness of a savior. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
