Jesu Juva
“Hands of Power”
Text: Deuteronomy 32:36-39; Philippians 2:5-11; John 12:12-19
The book of Deuteronomy is Moses’ words to the people of Israel when they are on the border of the Promised Land. The second time. You might remember that the first time didn’t work out so well. They got scared, didn’t trust the Lord, refused to go in, and so had to spend the next 40 years in the wilderness. Now they’re back. 40 years later. And Moses is repeating to them all the words of the Lord. Because he’s not going in with them. This is as far as Moses goes. This very day that he spoke the words we heard in the Old Testament reading, he will die. Moses was not perfect, not by a long shot. But he served well. Now he would enter his rest.
But after again teaching the people all the words of the Lord and going over their history, God also shows Moses the future to speak to them - what will happen to Israel after he is gone. They will enter the Promised Land. They will settle there, just as God promised. And life will be good. . . . But just as can happen with us, when life is going good, when you have all you need and then some, when you’re safe and secure, you can get lazy, your can get presumptuous, you can forget about God. You focus on the good stuff, and forget about who gave it. Oh, maybe not all at once, like an on-off switch - more like a dimmer. A gradual change. Little by little, drifting, forgetting, wandering, spending more and more time with what you have and on what you want, and less and less time with God.
And that happened to Israel. They began to attribute their wealth and security to themselves, and their stuff became their gods - what they loved, what they trusted, what they lived for.
So Moses tells the people. This future. Their future. Of course they say no! Just as we would. Just as we do. That won’t happen to us! To me! But it would. It did. So God would discipline His people. Not to hurt them - though it would hurt - but because He wants them back. He wants them to turn back to Him and look to Him for all they need.
And then the words we heard today. The Lord will vindicate his people. He will have compassion on them. This is Moses not just talking about God’s compassion in general; this is Moses talking about Jesus. The Jesus who - as the Gospels repeatedly tell us - saw the crowds, and had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36). God Himself, the Son of God, had come to be their shepherd. He had come to care for them. He had come to gather them and save them. And “them” includes us.
Now, maybe you don’t consider yourself harassed and helpless. Maybe life is going good for you right now. There were times Israel thought that, too. Don’t be fooled. What you have, what makes your life comfortable right now, can easily and quickly be taken away. And it might. And someday it will. Just take a quick look around the world today. How quickly things change. How quickly life changes because of an invisible virus. How quickly war rises up. How quickly fires and natural disasters take things away. How quickly your health can be taken away. How quickly and often unexpectedly death snatches away loved ones. How quickly your sin can turn from something you think good to something that threatens you. How quickly the world, or those you thought your friends, can turn against you. How quickly we go from safe and secure to harassed and helpless.
Then, Moses continues, when that happens, when your life so quickly turns, then Where are [your] gods? The rock in which [you] took refuge? When harassed and helpless quickly jumps up and smacks you in the face, when your safe and secure life suddenly isn’t, where are those things you built our life on, that you loved and trusted in, the things you feared losing, the things you were living for, that you gave up so much for? When the people and things you counted on you can no longer. What then?
Then Jesus.
That’s what God really wants to teach His people - us included - with this review of the past and peek into the future. That He is the faithful one. He is the Rock in which you can always take refuge. He is the one you can count on always. When life is good, and when it is challenging. See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me, He says. I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. His hands are saving hands.
Today we hear that story again, of how Jesus has handed over into the hands of men who thought they had power over Him. Power to exalt themselves. Power to save their nation. They used their hands to abuse Him and then crucify Him. But, as Jesus said, No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord (John 10:18a). Life and death belong to Him alone. They could not have arrested Him, they could not have crucified Him, they could not have done a single thing to Him had He not allowed it. But He did. For you. He laid down His life to take it up again and overcome death. For you.He was wounded to heal you. He took all your sin and rebellion upon Himself to free you from it. That’s what His hands did. Human hands were raised against Him. His hands were raised for us. To bless us. To save us.
And never were hands so strong as when they were nailed to the cross. The powerful hands were not the hands of the soldiers who pounded the nails, but the hands of Jesus that were powerful to stay on the cross, battle sin, death, and the devil for us, and win. Win, for when He died, it was not sin or evil that took His life - Father, into your hands I commit my spirit (Luke 23:46)! we’ll hear Jesus say today. And He’ll show that victory when He rises from death to life again.
And that’s why, as Moses said, none can deliver out of [His] hand. For no hand is more powerful than His hand. His hand that is holding on to you. Or as Jesus would put it: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and - here it is - no one will snatch them out of my hand (John 10:27-28).
So today we heard when the people took up palm branches in their hands and cried out Hosanna! Save us! And Jesus did that by taking up the cross in His hands and having those hands nailed to it. And now those hands hold onto us and care for us. Those hands baptize and heal and absolve and feed us with His own Body and Blood.
And if that weren’t true, you wouldn’t be here. And that on a number of levels. If God weren’t preserving the world, we’d have destroyed it long ago. If God weren’t preserving your faith, you’d have long ago lost it. Think back over your life. How has the Lord protected you, preserved you, provided for you? What dumb mistakes, foolish risks, or close calls did He save you from? How has the Lord had compassion on you? How has He held on to you? Israel didn’t deserve anything, yet God gave them everything. The same is true for us. The Lord will vindicate his people. He will have compassion on them. He has and He will.
And now, He says, have this mind among yourselves. Don’t have a mind of your own, doing what you think is best and good, going your own way. That doesn’t end up good. Have this mind among yourselves - the mind of Christ. The mind of one who didn’t grasp, who didn’t hold onto the things of this world, who didn’t go for glory, but made Himself nothing. Who served. Who gave Himself up for you. Have this mind among yourselves. A mind which knows that it is not our taking but the Lord’s giving that blesses us. That all that we have is from Him - our forgiveness, our life, our salvation. That He is our Rock of refuge. That we are safe in His hands.
And such a mind can now also do the same for others. Give, not take. Serve, not demand to be served. And in so doing, find meaning and purpose for our life. The life given to us by our Lord. And then we truly live. And when are called to the top of our own Mount Nebo, as Moses, to die, we’ll lose nothing and gain everything. Because of the one who gave up everything for us.
This Lenten season has called us back to our Rock of refuge. Called us back to repentance. Called us back to our Lord’s compassion. Maybe turn that dimmer switch back up a bit. Now, we’ll hear the story again. This week we’ll go through it again. And marvel. That God would do this for us. That God would die that we might live.
Let us now ponder once again on that. On Jesus’ holy passion.
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