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Apr 10, 2022

He Bends the Arc

He Bends the Arc

Passage: Mark 14:53-65

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: Follow: Learning from Mark about Jesus’ Most Misunderstood Command

The story of the events leading to Jesus’s execution are familiar to us. Perhaps too familiar. We will hear a true story in a very different setting, but which helps us not just understand, but feel what is at work and at stake in the trial of Jesus.

Readings & Scripture

PREPARATION: Adapted from Zechariah 9:9 and John 12:13
LEADER: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

ALL: Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Christ alone is our Savior and King.

 AFFIRMATION OF FAITH: Apostles’ Creed
ALL: I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

RECOGNITION OF NEW MEMBERS:
I never understood why going to church made you a hypocrite. . . because nobody goes to church because they're perfect. If you've got it all together, you don't need to go. You can go jogging with all the other perfect people on Sunday morning. Every time you go to church, you're confessing again to yourself, to your family, to the people you pass on the way there, to the people who will greet you there, that you don't have it all together. And that you need their support. You need their direction. You need some accountability, you need some help. - Rich Mullins

Benediction: Matthew 12:20-21
LEADER: a bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not quench,
until he brings justice to victory;

ALL: and in his name the Gentiles will hope.”

RELATED SCRIPTURES:

  • Genesis 18:25
  • Isaiah 10:12

ILLUSTRATIONS:

QUOTES: 

  • The significance of the religion of Jesus to people who stand with their backs against the wall has always seemed to me to be crucial. Howard Thurman
  • Selina: He has to pay! 
    Batman: You don't have to pay with him. You've paid enough. The Batman (2022)
  • The cross is not forgiveness pure and simple, but God’s setting aright the world of injustice and deception. Miroslav Volf 
  • God’s son submitted to the utmost extremity of humiliation, entering into total solidarity with those who are without help. . . however, he underwent helplessness and humiliation not only for the victimized but also for the perpetrators. . . .Perfect justice is wrought in the self-offering of the son, who alone of all human beings was perfectly righteous. Therefore no one, neither the victim nor the victimizer, can claim any exemption from judgment on one’s own merits, but only on the merits of the Son.  Fleming Rutledge
  • this announcement is fitted to be of very great use even to believers, that they may now with the eyes of hope look for Christ sitting at the right hand of the father, and patiently wait till he comes, and may likewise believe that the rage of wicked men against him, while absent, will not be without its consequences. John Calvin
  • You will never learn who Jesus Christ is by reflecting upon whether there is such a thing as sonship or virgin birth or miracle. Who Jesus Christ is you learn from your imprisoned, hungry, distressed brothers. For it is in them that he meets us. He is always in the depths. And we shall draw near to these brethren only if we open our eyes to see the misery around us. And we can open our eyes only when we love. Helmut Thelicke

BOOKS / DOCS

  • “The case of Jimmy Dill,” as shared by the Equal Justice Initiative, founded by Bryan Stevenson (More here on the case from Stevenson’s book, Just Mercy, starting on p. 24; and also here and here a record of the case and the appeal)
  • Christ on Trial, Rowan Williams
  • The Crucifixion, Fleming Rutledge

SERMONS