Now, I have to let you all know, I've talked
a bit about before about, you know, the joy of
British shows, but my sister and I, as much as
we love watching things from England, is that
for my sister, if it does not have people being
murdered in a British countryside, then it's
not really a good show. I'm more of the mindset
of Doctor Who, sci -fi and the like, but I will
admit, there was a dramatic show I loved. The
Crown. Oh my goodness. I watched all six seasons
of The Crown, all these things about the life
of Queen Elizabeth II and everything, and Vanessa
Kirby is still my Princess Margaret. I don't
care what season it was, she's always the one
for me. But the thing about this show is that
there was so much to it, where there's all this
drama and all these romances and all these affairs
and everything. And I think I was just watching
it because it actually makes me not worry too
much about my own country right now. But in thinking
about all the things that they had on there,
what was funny was that even the entire premise
of the show almost did not happen. It was not
supposed to happen. Queen Elizabeth II was originally
not even supposed to be the one inheriting the
throne in the first place. Her father, George
VI, was not originally supposed to be king. The
only reason that he became king was after a year,
his brother, Edward VIII, abdicated the throne.
See, it turns out that King Edward VIII He had
wanted to get married to someone he was not supposed
to get married to. The woman he wanted to get
married to, she had been divorced, but the man
that she had divorced was still alive. And apparently
it's better for divorcés to be dead in their
eyes? I don't know, it's kind of creepy. But,
the thing about it is that he was not supposed
to marry her because he was the head of the Church
of England. And that it was not acceptable, it
was not allowed. Well... He did not want to let
go of the woman he loved and so instead he let
go of his country and he let go of the throne
the crown and He became the Duke of Windsor instead
and so his younger brother George the sixth became
the king I think there are a couple of movies
about him as well But then his daughter Elizabeth
the second becomes queen for 70 something years
Now, in looking at all this is that what we realize
is that Edward was trying to end up pursuing
what really mattered to him. He felt in his mind
that what mattered more was to be married to
the woman that he loved. But in so doing, he
had to let go of the authority and the power
that he had. He had to walk away from the crown.
let go not just of that but also of any political
influence he would ever have from then on. So
it wasn't even just that he couldn't have that
title. By being Duke of Windsor, it was basically
just in name only. From then on, he never had
any other influence in the politics or the future
of Great Britain. This idea of what authority
and power can truly look like and mean is much
of what we see as Jesus is going up to Jerusalem.
Because what we see is that as Jesus is going
to Jerusalem, he realizes that he is about to
lose everything. Now, Jesus losing his throne
wasn't just there on the way to Jerusalem, but
it was even when he became a human at all. Jesus
lost his throne not because of the love of one
person, but because of the love that he had for
the entire world. And I want to make sure that
I clarify something with some of these words,
okay? There's a part in here where it says that
he had the form of God. And I want to make sure
that I clarify some things because the word form
in the Greek, means something different from
what we might think. We in the English, we might
think that the form of something means that you
only appear like it. But the word morphe, in
the Greek, it could also be translated the nature
of God. So that Jesus had the very nature of
God. It would be sort of like if you were trying
to shape something out of clay, okay? If you
put it into the form of a cup, then it is a cup.
If you put it into the form of a horse, then
it is a horse. If you put the clay into the form
of a vase, which you should not do because it's
pronounced vase. And I don't know why those Europeans
keep saying it wrong and stop putting a U in
the word color. It's C -O -L -O -R. Why do you
keep spelling it wrong, Great Britain? I don't
know. They're weird. But the point being is that
whatever the form is, is the nature. It's the
very being. But it wasn't just that Jesus has
the nature of God But that he also takes on the
nature of a servant See, that's the thing about
being human is that he has to be human So that
he can also be a servant When we think of this
it also helps us to understand when we see the
word emptied See, when we see that Jesus emptied
Himself, He was not losing His essence, His nature
of being God. But instead, just like what we
saw with the King is that He was letting go of
His title, He was letting go of the appearance,
He was letting go of what it was to be in the
glory of the Father. When we see this is that
Jesus stepping away from that lets go of the
privileges that came with being in heaven in
the glory of the Father. See, that's one of the
things about Jesus is that he is letting go of
the thing that makes life comfortable, easy,
blessed, glorious, wonderful. Why? Because his
love meant even more than any of that. See, Jesus...
coming to let go of all these things is where
we see him humbling himself. How difficult is
it to let go of the things that make us comfortable,
that make us happy, because we need to embrace
being willing to serve. But we see a lot of examples
of what it is to let go of power, to let go of
titles and authorities, Because people matter
more to us than that One of the things that was
always interesting growing up is that I had heard
about George Washington as as our first president
and I was just wondering How long had he actually
been president? He was such an important figure
in the US and I found out he'd only been President
for two terms and it made me wonder what did
he do wrong? Why was he only able to stay in
for two terms and then realizing? He was the
one who didn't want to stay in for a third term
Why? Why was that so important to him? Because
for him he saw that the longer that a person
stayed in that role It would become more about
that person's ambitions Than it would about the
people that they were serving as much as in his
mind. He might have had the best of intentions
He knew that it's so easy when you stay in so
long, that it only becomes about your ideas,
more than about the people that you're serving.
When we see this, we end up having an idea of
what it is that Jesus has in his mind as he's
going up to Jerusalem. See, Jesus is on a donkey.
He's not on a giant war horse, okay? He is not
coming in like the military leader. He is not
coming in with a helmet and a spear. He is not
coming in victorious after a battle. He's coming
in on a humble animal. He's coming in on a donkey.
This is an animal that is used for work, not
for glory, but to work. Jesus is on his way for
what it means for him to serve. He had spent
all of this time preaching, proclaiming, doing
work among the people, but he also knew how easily
the people would want to make him into their
military king. He knew that the more he kept
going about the path he was on, it would be easy
for the people to just try to put him up on a
pedestal and keep him from anything dangerous.
But he knew that the path he was going on had
to go to the cross. Because the true glory of
the Messiah, the suffering servant, was to be
on the cross. But doing this is sometimes something
that we find difficult. To admit that I have
to leave behind the things that I feel are successful,
I have to let go of the thing that I feel good
about, the thing where people acknowledge me.
recognize me, see me, give me accolades because
I believe I'm supposed to go do something that
maybe makes me look lower, but it can actually
proclaim God's kingdom. And one of the people
that we see doing that is Mother Teresa. Now
Mother Teresa, for all of her ups and downs,
the goal of why she was even in Calcutta in the
first place is because she felt that she needed
to be serving You see, she had a pretty comfortable
teaching job. She was at a convent. You teach
people, you go home, you eat, you go to bed.
It's really not complicated. I had a friend in
St. Louis one time. He was actually able to go
live at a monastery for a week because you could
actually do that for free and the monks like
to hang out with you. And apparently, the monks
in East St. Louis like to watch Simpsons. Are
you as surprised by that as I am? Yeah, that
was kind of interesting. But apparently you can
be a monk and go watch the Simpsons every day
at 6 p .m. But to be able to see I have a job
and a life and a home and everything is safe
and secure, but I'm going to leave it to go live
in the slums. I'm going to be with the poorest
of the poor. I don't even know where food or
a place to live is from day to day. Even starting
the missionaries of charity, for this sake. But
it begs the question, have you discovered anything
that requires you to empty yourself in order
to pursue Christ Jesus? Have you discovered anything
where you're supposed to empty yourself to truly
follow after and live your true calling in Christ
Jesus? We spend a lot of time seeing our calling
as the thing that gives us praise, money, acknowledgement,
stuff to put on the CV. How many things does
God call us to where we're supposed to let go
and be willing to suffer instead? When we understand
the idea of Jesus going to the cross, Then we
realized that he was pursuing what truly mattered
and That message actually comes from an interesting
place There was a book called the subtle art
of not giving up. I'm not supposed to say the
last word in church So just go with it But it
starts with an F just in case you weren't sure
anyway But with the book itself It communicates
this idea of whether or not we are comfortable
with the idea that each of us will someday die.
Are we comfortable with the idea that each of
us will someday die? And I don't mean that in
a depressing way. I don't mean that in some sort
of a, you know, condemning way. What I mean is,
how often do we focus on what gives us legacy?
How many times do we focus on things that give
us comfort. How many times we like to focus on
things that help us ignore our mortality, the
things of fun, the things that give our heart
a skip in the beat. How many times we want to
avoid that our life does not go on forever yet
because then we're afraid of letting go and embracing
what truly makes life difficult. We want the
things that make life easy. We don't want the
things that remind us we're only human. But that's
the thing about Jesus, is that he knew that being
human would be the only way to do what was needed
for us. It was only by being human that he could
truly give his life for us. Because the only
way for Jesus to be exalted was because humility.
The only way for Jesus to be exalted in the way
that the Messiah was meant to be was by being
humbled in the first place. See, that's the thing.
When we let go of this idea that death will never
find us, then we start to realize that every
day is a gift to make the most of. Not to try
to add more to the bank account not to try to
somehow Put our name out there more or make sure
that things are in bold but instead Another day
to give and to sacrifice for what matters See
Jesus embraced death But then was exalted in
the humility To be exalted in humility Goes against
so much of what we think makes sense But it's
the only way to actually do what matters Because
when we spend our life trying to avoid pain When
we spend our time saying ooh, I didn't enjoy
that. Let me just walk away When we spend the
time saying this is going to make things too
difficult for me my life I'm not gonna have enough
people agreeing with me I'm not going to have
enough people liking me. I'm not going to have
enough people giving me what I want. I'm not
going to have enough. I'm not going to have enough.
I'm not going to have enough. Then we're too
afraid of pursuing what's actually going to matter
in the Kingdom of God. So this week, as we are
finishing this time of Lent, as we are moving
toward Maundy Thursday, Jesus celebrating communion
with his with his disciples good Friday where
he is betrayed By the people who should have
followed him most and then finding our way to
Easter and the resurrection My thought for you
today is this What have you been avoiding that
you know God is calling you to? Because you thought
it was just too difficult Because I can promise
you that on the other side there is life everlasting,
and that if it is something God is calling you
to, no matter how difficult it may be, it is
the only thing that will truly matter for the
rest of eternity. So may we, just like Christ,
be willing to go to the cross knowing that it's
only through serving, being humbled, and giving
up everything that we truly have anything worth.
preserving. Thanks be to God.