Be Curious

[00:00:00] In the name of jesus, amen. [00:00:09] Jesus, in the gospel reading, he tells his disciples where they're headed. [00:00:17] Now, is Jesus the leader or not? [00:00:20] Is he leading them? [00:00:24] Because he tells them what's going to happen and where they're going to go, how this is going to work. [00:00:32] And Peter takes him aside and rebukes him. [00:00:36] It's like Peter thinks he's leading. [00:00:40] It's like Peter's not confident that they're going the right direction. [00:00:47] Peter underestimates Jesus. [00:00:50] Do you see his attitude toward him? [00:00:56] He has no sense, apparently, that Jesus knows what he's doing or that Jesus has a bigger plan that all this is working toward, and he doesn't take the time to ask him. [00:01:12] He's not curious about what Jesus is up to. [00:01:17] He's just certain that he sees how things should be and the path that they should take. [00:01:26] Jesus calls it thinking about the things of men. Says you're not thinking about the things of God, you're thinking about the things of men. [00:01:35] Peter's thoughts are natural. It's like, no, let's not let this happen. Let's take a better course, Jesus. Let's take a course that looks like life and victory, not suffering and death. [00:01:52] Who can blame Peter? [00:01:54] This is just the way it looks to him. [00:01:57] And Peter, I mean, for all his boldness, he's probably got some experience leading or making things work out right. [00:02:10] He's got good ideas, probably. [00:02:12] I don't know. [00:02:14] We make fun of Peter a lot. You know, he's bold and brash and doesn't see, doesn't understand. [00:02:23] We like to make fun of the disciples in general. Sometimes just say, ah, they were so clueless, so clueless the whole time. [00:02:31] Probably, though we would have had the same kind of common sense. [00:02:39] We probably would have seen through Jesus plan too. Like, look, Jesus, that's not. [00:02:46] That's not the way to win friends and influence. It's not the way to make things better. [00:02:55] Let's set this on a path to improvement. [00:03:03] But if Peter were just curious, if he held Jesus in high esteem, if he esteemed him as the leader, as the shepherd, as the one who had called him to follow him wherever he leads, then he might have just asked, wow, Jesus, that seems surprising. [00:03:23] What do you have in mind? [00:03:27] And it turns out that's what it takes to set your mind on the things of God. It's just to be curious. [00:03:36] It's just to ask and to submit yourself to what God says. [00:03:43] Jeremiah is in a similar position, only he looks more like Jesus than Peter. [00:03:52] Yeah, he's describing the challenge of his situation. [00:04:01] He feels the suffering, but he's turned toward God and he's asking questions. [00:04:09] I sat alone because your hand was upon me, for you had filled me with indignation. [00:04:16] Why is my pain unceasing? [00:04:18] My wound incurable, refusing to be healed? [00:04:23] Will you be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail? [00:04:28] And then God answers, therefore, thus says the Lord, if you return, I will restore you, and you shall. [00:04:35] Jeremiah is asking questions. Jesus asked a question on the cross. [00:04:42] My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? [00:04:48] He said Psalm 22. [00:04:52] There again he does what Peter didn't do. [00:04:57] He turns to God, submitting to his Father's plan. [00:05:04] Lord, Father, if there's any way, let this cup pass from me. But your will be done, not mine. [00:05:14] He's curious and obedient. [00:05:18] He's not jumping to conclusions, setting his mind on the things of man. [00:05:27] Jeremiah looked pretty silly. [00:05:30] He was giving Israel a word that they didn't want to hear. You guys have turned away from God and you need to submit to Babylon. [00:05:39] They, they didn't want to hear that we've got better plans. [00:05:42] Like, look, giving up is not what we want to do. Doesn't that sound like us, huh? [00:05:49] Who likes to give up? Who likes to submit to the enemy, right? But God had told them, look, I've given you to Babylon, like, Babylon's going to take you over. [00:05:58] You need to submit to them instead. They rallied the troops. They got together with the nations around, they made a plan and then they lost in the end anyway. [00:06:10] Had a better idea than Jeremiah. But God tells Jeremiah, they shall turn to you. [00:06:16] They do. They turn to him. They turn against him. [00:06:20] They tell him, let's do something else. But you shall not turn to them, stay turned toward God. [00:06:27] That's the idea there. [00:06:31] So Jeremiah ended up thrown in the pit. And when the Babylonians did take over, they had mercy on him. [00:06:40] God provided for Jeremiah, but he looked silly to his own people. [00:06:45] He was underestimated, just like Jesus. [00:06:49] Nobody saw the plan toward which Jeremiah was leading them. [00:06:55] They didn't see where it ended. They didn't even know that Jeremiah was like, wasn't just a fool or a bad leader. [00:07:02] They didn't know, but it didn't matter. [00:07:07] Jeremiah was, he was following God and trusting in God's salvation and that it would all turn out right in the end. [00:07:17] In spite of what it looked like. [00:07:20] Jesus, well, it turned out alright in the end. [00:07:26] He obeyed his Father's will. To the end. [00:07:31] It looked the worst it could have. [00:07:35] Excruciating suffering, death, humility. [00:07:40] Crucified as a criminal or somebody who had tried to rebel against the Roman state. [00:07:48] Lots of ways to look at it. [00:07:51] Hated by his people, lost his life, and then God rescued him, raised him from the dead, gave him all power and authority in heaven and on earth to use on us, to give us everything in him. [00:08:11] And Jesus said, take up your cross and follow me. [00:08:16] The same pattern as Jeremiah and Jesus. [00:08:21] That's your pattern, he says. [00:08:24] And so his apostles did it, including Peter. [00:08:30] Peter turned around. What did it take? It took being completely humiliated. He's like, I'll never leave you. And Jesus says, no, you're going to deny me three times before the rooster crows. [00:08:41] And then he does, even though he was told beforehand, he denies Jesus three times. [00:08:49] He's completely humiliated. Properly. [00:08:54] He's humbled, which is to say he sees things as they actually are. Instead of having an inflated view of himself and his own ideas, he comes to see his limits and he comes to submit to Jesus. And after the resurrection, Jesus forgives him utterly and completely, gives him grace upon grace. [00:09:24] Remember, Peter jumps out of the boat to meet Jesus on the shore, because that's what you do when you've been forgiven utterly and completely by Jesus. And Jesus there on the shore, he tells Peter, you're going to die. [00:09:40] He tells him that Peter is going to die. And it sounds like upside down crucifixion. You can go look it up at the end of the Gospel of John. Looks like he's going to be crucified upside down. And that, according to tradition, is how he died. And actually in second Peter, I just ran into this. [00:10:01] Peter says, I know I'm going to die soon, like the Lord has indicated to me. He's talking about that moment. [00:10:09] So Peter gets set on a track. You see, he's following Jesus. He's taking up his cross and following Jesus to suffering. [00:10:18] He's no longer thinking of the things of men. He's no longer setting his mind on the things of men. How's he doing that? [00:10:24] He's been humbled and he's looking to the leader and he's trusting that it's all going to work out in the end. We just sang this hymn and I can hardly get through it. [00:10:35] Those were some extreme things we were singing, recounting the death of God's saints. [00:10:42] I'm just going to call attention to verse two. The martyr first, whose eagle eye could pierce beyond the grave. Who's that? [00:10:53] Who's the first martyr Stephen, Stephen, remember, Stephen is making a case that Jesus is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament, the law and the prophets, making a case for Jesus, for their sake. But they don't get it and they kill him for it. [00:11:19] Is that worth it, Stephen? He's taking up his cross and following Jesus. [00:11:25] And as he's being stoned there, you can imagine his parents looking on, you know, did they think, this is worth it? Did they think, good for you, Stephen. [00:11:35] Stand with Jesus, you know, stand up for Jesus. Hang on to him. [00:11:42] Who, looking at Stephen, thought, yeah, he's got a plan. This is going to work out well, that's the way to go, Stephen. Nobody, maybe somebody, maybe the other apostles or something like that. [00:11:59] But there was a plan and it was going to be okay. [00:12:03] And he knew it. The martyr first, whose eagle eye could pierce beyond the grave, see, Setting his mind on the things of God. Stephen could see through the grave. It's like, look, Stephen, you're going to die. And he's like, yeah, I'm looking through that. And he looks up to heaven and he asks God to forgive the people around him. He's conformed to Jesus by faith. [00:12:31] He sees something others didn't. [00:12:36] He's boldly following Jesus. [00:12:41] You've been given the same perspective in Jesus. [00:12:48] Jesus coming to dwell in you, giving you his spirit so that you become his temple, God's dwelling place so that you no longer live, but Christ lives in you. So that it's not just you thinking and speaking and doing, it's God thinking and speaking and doing through you. [00:13:12] How well God gives us humility. [00:13:18] Humility to see ourselves rightly. Not to hold on to our prior understanding or our better ideas. [00:13:28] To look to Jesus, to hold him in front of our eyes and to trust him that he knows where he's going. Don't underestimate Jesus. Remember, we're following him. [00:13:43] And then don't underestimate him. [00:13:47] Because he's won the victory and he is reigning at the right hand of the Father and he'll come again one day. [00:14:00] He's given you the end. He's given you a picture of how things are going to end. They're all going to turn out all right. He did the same thing for the apostles. Right after this passage, Jesus takes three of them up on a mountain and he shows them his glory. He's transfigured. He's bright and shining. They see his glory. They see that it's going to turn out okay. [00:14:22] After the suffering and the death, after the long and difficult road, he you know what? That long and difficult road for the apostles. [00:14:33] You think they were dragging their feet the entire time, like the stories we have of Christians who went to the arena to be killed by lions. [00:14:48] They don't give us the indication that they were sort of dragging their feet and moaning the whole way. [00:14:58] It's not just because they put on a good face. [00:15:00] It's because they had hope in how this was going to turn out. It's because they were letting go of something passing and transient and hanging on to what's eternal and truly good. They were letting go of earthly honor and fame and repute and gaining heavenly glory that doesn't fade. [00:15:22] They were letting go of earthly riches, treasures that are eaten by moths and stolen. [00:15:31] They were giving those up for heavenly treasure that doesn't rust, doesn't get eaten by moths, can't be stolen. It's kept in heaven for us. [00:15:45] They weren't truly losing anything and they were gaining everything. [00:15:52] Didn't look like it. [00:15:55] So don't be deceived by appearances. [00:15:58] Don't judge a cover by its book. Or don't judge a. [00:16:05] Oh, you're all in. You're all listening. That's good. [00:16:11] Don't judge a book by its cover. [00:16:15] Appearances aren't what matter with God. [00:16:21] Jesus knows what he's doing. [00:16:24] We're confirming adults this morning, which is wonderful. [00:16:30] So these are adults who have gone through the class this last year that I called the catechumenate. [00:16:39] They've been through Luther's small catechism in a more in depth. I mean, over the course of a year, kind of like we do with our youth. You know, I needed that for myself. You know, like, okay, great, I've been through the catechism again. And you know what? I'm going to do it again, starting in two weeks. [00:17:00] Anybody can come to it. It'll be better this time, too. [00:17:07] In two weeks, we're going to start it up again. You can go through the catechism with me and others for a year and we'll do adult confirmation in May next year. [00:17:18] But, you know, confirmation is about being confirmed in the faith. [00:17:25] It's about what the Christian faith and life are about. It's about. About following Jesus and continuing to follow Jesus. [00:17:36] Right? And so part of that is confession with our mouth that Jesus is Lord. [00:17:42] That's what confirmation is about. So this morning, some adults, praise the Lord, are going to speak the faith that they already have. [00:17:54] They're going to confess their faith in Jesus. And they. And we all, you know, our prayer is that we all would hang on to Jesus, like the apostles, like the martyrs, like all those who have come before us in faith. [00:18:11] And that we would follow him wherever it leads, even when it looks dark. [00:18:18] That's why we have the lights down today. [00:18:21] Just kidding. [00:18:23] Technical difficulties. [00:18:25] But it fits really well. Follow him in the darkness, because he's the light. He's our light and our life. In Jesus name, Amen.