Isaiah 2:1-5 | Psalm 2 | Matthew 28:16-20 | Hebrews 12:18-24
Remember the meaning of your baptism. If you've been here for a while, you may have heard me say that more than once. But this morning, I want to add a word to that. Remember the mountain meaning of your baptism.
I love mountains. I remember the first time I saw and ascended one in real life. And I was 22, I think 21 or 22. I was visiting Germany with my father, who was born and raised there. And we took a cable car up the zug-spitza. If you don't know German, you won't know how badly I mispronounced that. That is the largest, tallest mountain in Germany at about 10,000 feet. And we took this cable car up and it was nerve-wracking for someone like me, who's afraid of heights. My hands were definitely sweating as they are now as I just think about it. But you get there, you get to the top, and you come out on this platform. And then you have this 360 panoramic view of Germany and Austria and beyond these alpine forests and rugged peaks and glistening lakes. And it's stunning. And it's as if you're where heaven and earth meet. Time seems to stand still. And fear and joy and perspective all seem to come together. A mountaintop experience with my father. I'll never forget.
Ever since then I have loved mountains. To see them, live near them, even on them. I've hiked them, I've cycled them, I've skied them. But what I love most of all is to climb them. To get to that summit and see that mountaintop view, have that mountaintop experience. One such climb stands out. Switzerland's Don de Medi. This is a seven-peaked mountain. It has another stunning view, you get to the top and you have this view spanning Lake Geneva, the Rhone Valley and beyond. But it was really treacherous to get there for me.
Unknowing to me I picked a terrible guide who told me we left at 3 a.m. in the morning. He said we would be back for sure by 11 a.m. We weren't back until nearly 9 p.m. that night. And it was close to sending at a search party for me, which was close to being needed. Because we got lost and we were misled by these French climbers. And we ended up on all this shale slipping and sliding everywhere. And there were a few moments I thought for sure we were going to slip and slide right off the mountain to our death. We didn't. I'm here. Somehow we made it to the summit to the peak and we got there and back again. Breathtaking as if time stood still. See your joy perspective again coming together. Even the French climbers were there smoking their cigarettes. And I wasn't even mad. Because it seemed we were all in a different time and place and presence. And we were just soaking it all in.
Did you know Anna? I did know Anna. We were married. Did you notice all the mountain references in our scriptures? In Psalm 2 we see God installing his king, his promised Messiah on a mountain. It says, I myself have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. That's Mount Zion. From that mountain this Messiah, this king was to rule and to overcome every enemy. And to extend God's kingdom to every nation, to the ends of the earth. You hear a lot of that language in the New Testament. Because the New Testament reveals Jesus as that king. Which our gospel example is just one example. It's like it has a hyperlink here to Psalm 2.
But his rod is the word of his mouth we find out in the New Testament. His sword is the word of his mouth. His teaching. His promises. His commandments. That can cut and hurt. Like a surgeon's knife, that cuts out and takes out what destroys us. And then in turn in part of life. Eternal life. The triune life of God. That's what his words do.
Today as we heard is the Feast of Christ the King. A celebration as Malcolm Guite puts it of ends and beginnings. We end the Christian year today and we begin again next Sunday with Advent. As we journey through time towards eternity and our triune God.
Advent. Advent is something we love to lean into here at Church of the Cross. And I'm going to be sending out an email later this week to offer you resources that you can use during this season that's coming up. Practice is the theme that we're going to be looking at. But Advent starts with anticipating practicing hope as we're waiting in the growing darkness. For the light of our coming Messiah. And then the year ends and arrives today when we proclaim his universal and eternal reign.
Christ the King. And he rules from a cosmic mountain. The Bible Project recently launched a new meta podcast series on a theme, a new theme on mountains. In the middle of it right now these are really great series if you ever listen to them. And this one explores how in scripture mountains are one of those places where heaven and earth intersect. Where God meets with humans in unique and profound ways. Where there are mountains like Sinai, one of the biggest examples in the Old Testament. Where Moses ascends the mountain and is transformed and is commissioned with the presence and the word of God. Again another similarity to our gospel passage this morning. But again this places these ascensions where Godly fear and joy and perspective come together. Where in the words of Psalm 2 we rejoice with trembling. As we learn from God how to be saturated with his way and his life.
The Bible Project also highlights how these mountain stories collectively all point towards and represent the one cosmic mountain. That started and that we saw in the Garden of Eden. If you pay attention to the clues. If you notice the clues Eden has a peak from which the waters flow. They all flow from. It's the center and the summit of paradise. Where you find the tree of life. The tree of eternal life. Where you go to be saturated and learn how to be saturated with the life of God. But as we know from the story Adam and Eve they lost access to this mountain. And the rest of scripture is really about humanity's journey back to this mountain.
And again the New Testament declares that Jesus is both the king reigning from this cosmic mountain. And he is the way back to and up this mountain. To be with him is to be back. As our gospel or our New Testament reading in Hebrews put it. Those of us who follow Jesus already now in the unseen realm have come to Mount Zion. To the city where the living God reigns. To the great assembly around Jesus. To God. To Jesus. The mediator of the new covenant whose blood speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. His blood that opens up and paves the way back to the mountain.
Did you notice the mountain in our gospel reading? Jesus directs the disciples to meet him in Galilee. Where? At a mountain. Tradition identifies it as Mount Tabore. The site of the transfiguration where we got a glimpse of the now permanent resurrected glory of Jesus. Some scholars notice even seven different mountain scenes throughout the gospel of Matthew. This being the seventh. Similar to the Dondumidii that had these seven jagged peaks that represented one that were part of one mountain. These seven stories all together represent the one cosmic mountain. From which Jesus rules and gathers his people and leads them up to the summit. And then tells us to go and help others do the same.
The passage is often called the Great Commission. But Dallas Willard dubbed it the Great Omission. Because so few Christians and churches actually made it have made it their mission. I don't want to be guilty of the Great Omission for myself or for this church. So this sermon is a little different for me. It's a call for us to return to the charge that Jesus gave the church. To make that the mission of our lives and our church. Where it has been here amongst this church. Sometimes more in the front foreground, sometimes more in the background. But I have felt from God, from the Holy Spirit, to make this more explicit for myself and for us.
We've heard these words so many times that we run the risk of tuning them out when we hear them. I think that's true for me. Today I want to freshen them for you though. I want to remove some of that film of familiarity. As I point out the artistic even mountain structure of this passage.
So if we could go to the next slide. This is a chiastic structure. It's very common in Hebrew thinking and poetry. But also in narratives. All kinds of places it comes up. It's a mirror-like pattern where ideas are presented in a certain order. And then you get to the point and then they're reversed. In the mirror-like pattern. And the crux, the tip, the summit is not at the beginning or the end, but it's in the middle. And it's here, the summit, the point, the crux is actually the center. Saturating them in the triune name slash life of God.
Notice the all statements. There's four all statements surrounding the middle statement. There's no all in the middle. And these mirror each other. So the outer ‘all’s. You have all authority has been given to me at the top. And at the bottom I will be with you all the days. Until the end. That's the Greek: all the days. Then you have the commandments. You move inwards and you go more towards the tip. Again these are all kind of pointing like an arrow to the right. Go and make apprentices. Students, disciples, followers of all peoples. Teaching them to keep all my commandments. Not just the ones that fit our personalities or the demographics of our church. All of them.
Some people count. If you don't repeat them all the time, you cluster them in similar commands. There's about 50. That's not a lot to learn. To mark, to memorize, to do. At the center is the summit. Saturating them in the triune name or as we are more used to hearing. Baptizing them. Just an immersing word. Baptizing them, soaking them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The name of God represents God. His character, his way, his life, his essence. Baptism is this inward sign of an inward grace and it represents the goal. The destination. The gift. The outworking of following Jesus and his commandments.
To the tip, to the peak, to the summit of the cosmic mountain. To be saturated with that triune life that he was saturated with when he walked the earth. In fact, if we turn this one quarter turn 90 degrees to the left, it turns from an arrow. If we go to the next slide. Into a mountain. So you have all authority abiding presence and triune life.
Thus the mountain meaning of our baptism. The foundation we have here is the authority and the abiding presence of Jesus. The authority of Jesus which tells us to go. The abiding presence of Jesus which empowers us and encourages us for the climb. I am with you always. That's his part.
And then we come to our part. Becoming his apprentices. Obeying his commandments, keeping his commandments. We are going to need his authority. We are going to need his abiding presence because this journey is at times really treacherous. We have more than slippery shale and misguided French climbers. We have the evil one coming after us. And it's hard. We need the one with all authority. We need his abiding presence as we give ourselves to becoming his apprentices. Doing everything he told us to do and helping others do the same.
You can think of an apprentice under a master carpenter with Jesus as the carpenter, master carpenter. Which is how you've been marked in your baptism. You are an apprentice of Jesus. If you've been baptized, you're following him. To learn the craft though, the apprentice must watch every move of the master carpenter. How he measures cuts, joins and finishes things. And then the master carpenter must watch and tell the apprentice what to do and to correct that apprentice. When they get it wrong until they get it right and encourage them when they do.
Well, as apprentices of Jesus, we need to immerse ourselves in the Gospels. Watching Jesus' every move, learning from him. Doing everything he tells us to do. Letting the Holy Spirit correct us when we get it wrong and encourage us when we get it right. And the more we do this, the more we're going to help others and be able to help others do the same. To come and go up that mountain. And the more we do this, the more we learn from Jesus how to be like Jesus, the more we're going to be saturated. Like him with the life of the triune God. That's the way.
This doesn't just happen. So moving towards this summit doesn't just happen. There's no cable car for this mountain. Instead of a lift, what we have is the teaching, the promises and the commandments of Jesus. And every word of his that we hear and trust and obey takes us to another level. This climb, it also requires intentionality because of this. It requires a plan with disciplines that actually help us to absorb Jesus' teaching and practice his way.
We need that. Just like any sport, profession or trade, it demands a plan. It demands consistent skills that we take on and we practice and we refine. Same with following Jesus. I've never met anybody who's grown in their profession or in their walk with Jesus without such an intentional plan and effort. I've never seen it. And the more we have such a plan that works for us and we stick with, the more we're going to experience that summit. And the more others are going to see the life of God in us and want to come with us. That's how it works. They're going to see the life of God in us and say like what they said in Zechariah 8. Please let us go with you for we have heard that God is with you.
And they're going to add what we heard in our Old Testament reading. They're going to want to say yes, all the peoples are going to come and say let's go up the mountain of the Lord together with you to the temple of the God. And he will teach us his ways that we may walk in his paths because it's a beautiful thing when you see the life of God lived out in somebody. It's attractive. You want it.
The most effective way to bring people to this mountain and up it is to first go up it ourselves.
Some time ago, Pete had a memorable objections and response section in his sermon where he anticipated some objections in the minds of people listening and then offered one of his thoughtful witty responses. I don't have Pete's humor. But I anticipated as I was preparing this some objections going on in maybe some of your minds that I'd like to address.
But Dave, what about this?
But Dave, this sounds like a lot of work. You're absolutely right. It is. It's a lot of work to become a student of Jesus, learn his ways as it is with anything worthwhile. I mean, we dedicate countless hours to our professions to prepare for them and to improve them, to grow in them. How do we think it would be any different in our walk with Jesus? And yet with Jesus, whatever we put in, it's far outweighed by the reward. Eternally more than any other endeavor we could give ourselves to.
But Dave, isn't this salvation by works? Kind of sounds like that. No, not at all. This is all about just growing in the grace of God, the same grace that leads us to the mountain, to save us, and the same grace that leads us up the mountain to sanctify us. It's all grace.
But Dave, being a lifelong student of Jesus, learning to keep all his commandments sounds like a lot of human effort. Isn't that against grace, opposed to grace? No, not at all. Grace is not opposed to effort, it's opposed to merit. But somehow we deserve all this, as Dallas Willard used to say. Second Peter reminds us, we are called to make every effort to add goodness to our faith.
But Dave, didn't Jesus say his yoke is easy? He says teaching, his burden light, this feeling kind of heavy. Yes, he did, actually. And it is. Because he is yoked to us. Because the one who has all authority and power is with us, who carries the greater load, and who empowers us and encourages us to do all that he says. He's a different kind of teacher, the different kind of teaching. And he promises in that same section where he says, my yoke is easy, my burden is light, he says, come to me and learn from me. That is an important phrase in my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
That first step to Jesus, trusting him, is often the hardest and the most difficult, but the more we come to Jesus, the more we learn from him in all of scripture, and especially the gospels, the lighter that burden becomes. We're learning that from him. If his teaching is getting heavier and heavier, it may be a sign that we've wandered from him, or his teaching, or both.
But Dave, all this, especially keeping the commands of Jesus, it sounds like we're prioritizing the gospels over the rest of scripture. Yeah, it does. As we do in our liturgy, we prioritize the gospel when we come down the center aisle here, and we hold it up. The gospels hold a special place because they reveal the life and the teaching of Jesus most directly in all of scripture. The Old Testament is pointing to and is fulfilled in the life and the teaching and the commandments of Jesus. That's where they land. That's the destination. And the letters are more like a commentary in a sense of that and how that works out in community. But the center of this story, that's from beginning from Genesis to Revelation, the center of it is in the gospels, and that's why we prioritize that. That's where we see the heart of the good news, the life of Jesus, his words, his life. They should be a priority for us.
But Dave, I'm not a Christian. Why would I want Jesus to be my teacher? Why would I want to do what he says? Who could be a better teacher than Jesus? That's how I respond. Who has greater power and authority? Who can be with us more than how Jesus promised to be with us? Who has offered us a better destination than Jesus? Is Jesus not the brightest spot in human history? Who would be a better teacher than Jesus?
But Dave, this still feels a little overwhelming. Where can I start? I'm glad you asked. First, make a plan. For example, a plan to read Scripture that prioritizes the gospels. This is how you could follow the daily office lecture. This is why it's here. It offers you a two-year plan. You go through the whole of scriptures, the whole of the scriptures in two years, and the gospels in about every year. Or just use that as a model to engage the scriptures. And as you read the gospels, this is my encouragement. When you come to the commands of Jesus, circle those. Memorize those. Make it your goal to do those, most of all. That's what I've been doing. And if it's been a while since you read the gospels, maybe just start there. And then you can take one of the gospels, maybe pick the Gospel of Mark. It's the shortest one. And set the goal for, say, the next month to go through the gospel and just circle and memorize and commit to do all the things Jesus told us to do. That's what I'm doing right now with our youngest son.
You're going to have to figure out those spiritual disciplines that work for you, though. You have to experiment. You have to try to see what enables you to actually absorb and keep the teaching of Jesus. If the ones you've been working, if you've been trying, don't work, then there's plenty out there to practice and try.
I want to finish with something Gandhi once said, followed by a couple of my own questions. Gandhi once said, if Christians would just live by everything Jesus taught that's found in the Bible, all of India would be Christian today. What would happen if all the Christians in Greater Boston committed to do everything Jesus told us to do? What if just one church committed to do everything Jesus told us to do? How many others would be compelled to join us? How about we find out?
Amen.