Saturday, April 4

Today’s Holy Saturday devotional, the last devotional in our Lenten series, is the homily I shared in yesterday’s Good Friday worship service. The homily is titled “Eulogy for Jesus” and is written in the style of a memorial service message, the kind I would share at any other memorial service at Faith for any other loved one whom we lost too soon. Today, He rests; tomorrow, He rises. - David

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Companion of the poor. Champion of the nobodies. Compassionate for all. Spiritually curious. A fierce friend. Rabbi. Brother. Son. Jesus.

Friends, the best sermons aren’t preached on Sundays. Those are the worst ones. The best sermons are preached by the way a person chooses to live their life. I want to lift up three ways Jesus preached a sermon with his life.

First, Jesus showed us how to live simply and help others simply live. Jesus of Nazareth was born Yeshua bar Yoseph in Bethlehem when Herod the Great was king of Judea and Quirinius was governor of Syria. Baby Jesus and his parents were refugees. They fled to Egypt almost immediately after Jesus was born. When they heard that Herod had died, they returned to their homeland and settled down in Nazareth for a quiet life in the country.

Jesus was the adopted son of a handyman. Jesus learned how to work wood from Joseph, who taught Jesus the value of honest work, perseverance, and skill. A religious teenager but never full of himself, Jesus spent more time than usual in the Nazareth synagogue, where he learned to read and recite Torah better than his peers. He drove Joseph and Mary crazy when he started hanging out with the wrong crowd. Jesus’ people were the rule-breakers and the troublemakers. He wasn’t a bad looking young man, but he was never interested in dating; he was married to his ministry. He had a heart for the poor, the leper, and the disabled. He loved to party. He was fun. He was strangely wise beyond his years.

The closest thing he ever found to a best friend was John the Baptist. Without John, we wouldn’t be here. John was Jesus’ mentor, his coach, his spiritual director. Jesus never got over John’s death. It was John’s execution that put Jesus on the fast track to execution himself, like Jesus knew his fate would be the same as John’s. They’re finally together now.

After his baptism in the Jordan River, Jesus spent forty days in the desert with no water and no food. Mary was worried sick. He came out of the desert a different man. You could see it in his eyes. Those eyes had seen things.

Then, at the age of thirty, he took charge of the Kingdom of God movement, of which we are proud members. His movement was all about love. He was the best storyteller anyone ever heard. Remember the one about the two sons? The first one leaves, then comes back home; the second one never leaves, but he’s never at home. There was the one about the shepherd who left the ninety-nine to find the one. There was the one about two good guys and one bad guy walking down a road. All three see the same man left for dead, but guess who stops and helps? The bad guy, showing that what counts isn’t what other people say about you but the kindness you show.

Jesus could work miracles. He made the blind see. He made lepers clean. With one word, people paralyzed their entire lives got up and walked! The man could walk on water. He could stop a storm. He could feed five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish. He healed people, fed people, preached good news to people, comforted the lonely and the lost, all without a dollar to his name. He lived simply so others could simply live.

Second, Jesus showed us how to stand up to bullies. Everything changed when he rode into Jerusalem this week. He turned over the tables of the money-changers and the animal-sellers. They charged such high prices, poor people like him couldn’t afford to worship God. Jesus stood up to them. He pointed to the woman who gave her last two pennies to the Temple. He said, “That’s real generosity. She gave God 100% while the rich gave pennies on the dollar.” Jesus stood up to them. The Sadducees picked a fight with him over the resurrection, saying it wasn’t real. Jesus stood up to them. The Pharisees tried to trick him into saying we shouldn’t pay our taxes. Jesus stood up to them. Jesus preached in the Temple from sun-up to sundown. “Woe to the hypocrites! Just because you talk the talk doesn’t mean you walk the walk.” Jesus stood up to them.

Jesus stood up to the political and the religious establishment. “Feed the hungry,” he said, “give the thirsty water, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, care for the sick, visit the prisoner, because when you do all these things, you are loving me, and when you don’t do these things, you are denying me.” Jesus stood up for the pushed down, and people who did the pushing came for him.

Third, Jesus showed us that love is worth dying for. Our Rabbi was laid to rest yesterday. Of course, Jesus hadn’t made arrangements for anything like this, it all happened so fast. Joseph of Arimathea donated his own tomb to be the Rabbi’s final resting place, and Nicodemus washed his body.

The details of what happened are a bit sketchy. Here’s what we know. While we were all at Passover with our families, Jesus hosted the Passover meal with his family, the Twelve. Judas got up and left the table early. It’s not clear where he went, but it is clear that he led a few hundred Roman soldiers to Gethsemane last night where Jesus and now the Eleven had gone to pray. Judas confronted Jesus. There was a scuffle. Peter drew his sword. Jesus told him to put it away. Jesus was arrested. Judas… we found this morning.

Peter says that Jesus was hauled off to the high priest’s house, then to Pilate’s fortress, then to Herod’s mansion, then back to Pilate’s fortress, because no one could figure out what to do about Jesus. When we woke up the next morning, we heard a mob had assembled outside Pilate’s front door, calling for Jesus to be crucified, and before we could do anything, Pilate was washing his hands of guilt (as if he could). They put a 70-pound crossbeam on Jesus’ shoulders and he was forced to carry it all the way to Skull Hill. Some poor guy named Simon had to carry the crossbeam when Jesus couldn’t carry it any further. There were two other men crucified beside him. They put nails in their hands, nails in their feet, and they stood up the crosses so we could all see.

Some say they felt an earthquake when he died. Some say the Temple curtain was torn in two. Some swear they saw Moses and Elijah and the saints of old walk around the city. I don’t know about that, but what I do know is, I miss my friend, and I know you do, too.

We need to surround Mary with as much love and support as we can. Before he was our Rabbi, he was her son. She was there for his first breath in Bethlehem, and she was there for his last breath in Jerusalem. Mary did the best she could.

Jesus is preceded in death by his father, Joseph; his grandfather, Jacob; his mentor, John; and his friend, Judas. He is survived by his mother, Mary, his brother James, and numerous loving siblings. To the Temple he was a prophet who had to be silenced; to the government he was a criminal who had to be punished; to us he was a teacher who had to be followed. He was one of the good ones. No, he was the best one. In lieu of flowers, give to the poor.