Commitment

The scriptures referred to are Mark 14:1-15:47.

Most of the Sundays this Lent our Old Testament readings have featured one of the covenants God made with humanity. We have read about the covenants made with Noah, with Abraham, and with the newly liberated nation of Israel. Last Sunday we read how God told Jeremiah that he was going to make a new covenant with his people—one that is not external but one which is written in their hearts. This Thursday we will hear Jesus inaugurate that covenant, using the elements of the Passover. But today we have read about his making and sealing that covenant, not symbolically but literally, with his blood and with his life.

He could easily have avoided this. Under cover of darkness he could have slipped from the garden in Gethsemane to Bethany, just 2 miles away, on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives. He had been staying there with his friends, Lazarus, Mary and Martha. They would have hidden him. Lazarus, I'm sure, would have been willing to die for him, having no fear of dying anymore. But Jesus didn't avoid the cross. Like his Father, he was true to his covenant. He was committed.

Commitment is the 6^th C in RN Caroline Kingdon's list of the elements of care for her patients. She says, “A commitment to our patients and populations is a cornerstone of what we do.” And the same is true of God. We have a history of failure to live up to our part of the covenants, and at any point God could have given up on humanity and walked away. But he didn't. He will at times “hide his face” from us, which is the Bible's way of saying that he lets us suffer the consequences of what we do. But he is always there when we cry to him, waiting for us to turn from our doomed attempts to control the world back to the one who really does. He is like a parent who says, “When you are done with this foolishness, I will still be here for you.”

And just as Caroline is committed not to something abstract but to her patients, so too God is committed to his people. Some people seem to think God is more committed to his glory or to justice or to holiness than to people. But you don't have to look far in the Bible to see that isn't true. When Moses asked to see God's glory, God says, “I will make all my goodness pass before your face, and I will proclaim the Lord by name before you; I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.” (Exodus 33:19) No mention of justice or holiness there, just grace and mercy. That's his glory: how he treats people. When God does manifest his glory to Moses, God says, “Yahweh, Yahweh, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abiding in loyal love and faithfulness...,” a description which is repeated throughout the Hebrew Bible: in the Torah, and in the Psalms, and in the prophets. Jonah even states it is the reason he didn't want to preach to Nineveh: because he knew that God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. (Jonah 4:2) He knew God would forgive even Gentiles if they repented. That's the kind of God he is.

And we see that commitment in his son, Jesus. When he talks about God's glory, it becomes obvious that he is talking about his works of healing, and especially his crucifixion and resurrection. (John 9:3; 12:23-33) In other words, it is what Jesus did to heal and save others that glorified God. Like his Father, Jesus is committed to people and what is good and healthy for them, both physically and spiritually.

And you can't be more committed to people than to die for them. In John, just prior to the last supper, it says, “Just before the Passover feast, Jesus knew that his time had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now loved them to the end.” (John 13:1) Real love is a commitment to the well-being of the beloved. You don't let anything get in the way of that. Not even death. As Jesus said, “No one has greater love than this—that one lays down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) And though Peter said he would lay down his life for Jesus, when the moment came, he chickened out. (John 13:37-38) Jesus stuck to his commitment.

And Jesus expects us to commit ourselves to him as well. He said, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34) And the apostles did ultimately commit themselves to following Jesus and most, including Peter, were martyred.

As I've said before, we in the West will probably never have to die for our faith. But that doesn't get us off the hook in terms of committing our lives to Jesus. He said that if we wish to be his followers, we must deny ourselves. Another translation would be “disown.” We have to give up what we think are our rights to follow him. It's very much like what a soldier does when he signs up. The Declaration of Independence lists as unalienable rights those to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But when you join the military, you voluntarily give up your liberty to do whatever you want. You give up the right to pursue happiness if it interferes with duty. You will even give up your life if necessary in fulfilling your duty. Just as Jesus gave up his life and took up his cross. That is what we too signed up for when we decided to follow Jesus.

Last week, we spoke about courage as doing the right thing even when it is risky. Commitment is similar. Commitment is doing something you promised to do even when there are reasons for you to break that promise. There may be seemingly good reasons not to fulfill your promise, like what you've committed yourself to is very difficult, even to the point that you sometimes think it may be nearly impossible. There are less good reasons, like it is just massively inconvenient for you or for others involved. It may be a pretty poor reason, like you just don't feel like it. Most successful people don't let any of those reasons stop them from keeping their commitments. They persevere.

We celebrate visionaries who come up with great ideas. But those ideas don't go anywhere unless people commit themselves to making those ideas become reality. The unsung heroes are those who, though they may not have dreamed up the vision, work out exactly how to realize it. Edison and Jobs came up with great ideas but it was the people under them who made those ideas into actual things.

Jesus proclaimed the good news about the reign of God coming near. But he also showed what it looked like when a person was ruled by God. He showed what it was like when a person exhibited God's compassion and care and competence. He showed how to communicate the good news to others. He showed courage in the face of opposition. And he showed commitment by completing his mission and going to the cross. Had he decided he had done enough that night in Gethsemane and took off for Bethany to avoid his arrest and execution, where would we be? We would not be saved. We would still be in our sins. We would not be reconciled to God. If Jesus had not given his life for us, we would not have eternal life. But Jesus went through something we can barely imagine because of his commitment, not only to God, but to us.

That's why the Christian is called to do more than to simply worship. He is called to make Jesus' vision of the the reign of God in his life a reality. He is called to serve God by serving others. As it says in 1 Peter, “Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of the varied grace of God.” (1 Peter 4:10) A Christian who only goes to church and prays and reads the Bible is as useless as a nurse who goes to seminars and webinars and talks to other nurses and studies her textbooks but doesn't actually put her skills and knowledge to work helping patients. Christianity is not merely a contemplative religion; it is an active one. Yes, we are to take time out to commune with God, like on the Sabbath. But the Sabbath is only one day out of seven. Yes, we should spend time each day praying and reading our Bible. But not all day. Primarily we are to live our faith, in the world, among other people, showing God's love and forgiveness and justice in what we say and do. And that takes commitment.

If a soldier has a day off and no tasks to perform, he can choose to do whatever occurs to him, within reason. But if he has a mission that day, everything is subordinated to the mission. The mission doesn't get aborted because Stanley wanted to see the new episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, or Kim wanted to try out the new Thai restaurant, or Terry needed to mow the lawn. That's why, when a bunch of people said they would follow Jesus but had something to do first, he said they were not fit for the kingdom of God. (Luke 9:57-62) The mission comes first.

You've no doubt heard of or even seen the controversial movie The Last Temptation of Christ. The idea is that while on the cross the devil offers Jesus something he didn't have: a normal human life. No mission, just a wife and kids and even some pleasures that he denied himself. And after a vision of what such a life could be, Jesus rejects it and finds himself back on the cross. I'll bet that was a temptation Jesus had to conquer. Just to have a normal uneventful life, with no higher duty or mission taking priority over everything else. Unfortunately, it is a temptation many Christians succumb to. We just want to be a decent person with a reasonably happy life, not a person called by God to dedicate ourself to a mission which requires sacrifice. Again where would we be if Jesus had that attitude? We'd be lost.

We live in a lost world, a world that needs saving. A world that needs Jesus and his message of hope. It needs people dedicated to delivering on his promise of healing and restoration and justice. It needs people who have taken on the mission of making a reality of Jesus' vision of a kingdom where the God who is love reigns. It needs the same kind commitment on our part that Jesus displayed in his life and especially in his journey to the cross. Because commitment is a key element of following Jesus.