sermon powerpoint 3-21-10

Scripture ReadingActs 22:22-29Luke 3:7-14

The reader ends the passage with these words:

The word of the Lord.

The Gospel ReadingMark 15:15-20

The reader introduces the reading with these words:

The Good News of JesusThe Good News of Jesusas told by as told by MarkMark

M.C. Escher

SowingBehold, there went out a sower to sow…

Mark 4:3

• Soldiers: Game of kings


Mark 4:3

• Soldiers: Game of kings• Paul in Acts 22


Mark 4:3

• Soldiers: Game of kings• Paul in Acts 22• The Poh-leese and the Little People


Mark 4:3

• Soldiers: Game of kings• Paul in Acts 22• The Poh-leese and the Little People• Platoon, Lord of Flies, Abu Ghraib


Mark 4:3

• Soldiers: Game of kings• Paul in Acts 22• The Poh-leese and the Little People• Platoon, Lord of Flies, Abu Ghraib• Stanley Milgram at Yale in 1961


Mark 4:3

• Philip Zimbardo at Stanford in 1971 – All tested beforehand for

normalcy


Mark 4:3

• JtB and the soldiers


Mark 4:3

• JtB and the soldiers• Us vs. Them


Mark 4:3

• JtB and the soldiers• Us vs. Them• Sheriffs & Juries


Mark 4:3

• JtB and the soldiers• Us vs. Them• Sheriffs & Juries• Sam on lunch duty

GleaningThe land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us. Ps.

67:6

• Extension of “normal” coping mechanisms


67:6


• We are all capable of this


67:6


• We are all capable of this• This is what sin really looks like


67:6


• We are all capable of this• This is what sin really looks like• Why suffer, not just die quietly in his

sleep


67:6



sleep• Forgive them….


67:6



sleep• Forgive them…. • Even the soldiers…


67:6



sleep• Forgive them…. • Even the soldiers…• Even the worst in each of us…


67:6

• Ephesians 2:1-5 (TLB) Once you were under God’s curse, doomed forever for your sins. You went along with the crowd and were just like all the others, full of sin . . . All of us used to be just as they are, our lives expressing the evil within us, doing every wicked thing that our passions or our evil thoughts might lead us into. We started out bad, being born with evil natures, and were under God’s anger just like everyone else.


67:6

• Ephesians 2:1-5 (TLB) But God is so rich in mercy; he loved us so much that even though we were spiritually dead and doomed by our sins, he gave us back our lives again when he raised Christ from the dead—only by his undeserved favor have we ever been saved . . .


67:6

• 1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.


67:6

• Isaiah 53:4-5 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

At the end of time, billions of people were seated on a great plain before God's throne. Most shrank back from the brilliant light before them. But some groups near the front talked heatedly, not cringing with shame - but with belligerence.

"Can God judge us? How can He know about suffering?", snapped a pert young brunette. She ripped open a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. "We endured terror ... beatings ... torture ... death!"

In another group a black boy lowered his collar. "What about this?" he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. "Lynched, for no crime but being black !"

In another crowd there was a pregnant schoolgirl with sullen eyes: "Why should I suffer?" she murmured. "It wasn't my fault." Far out across the plain were hundreds of such groups. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering He had permitted in His world.

How lucky God was to live in Heaven, where all was sweetness and light. Where there was no weeping or fear, no hunger or hatred. What did God know of all that man had been forced to endure in this world? For God leads a pretty sheltered life, they said.

So each of these groups sent forth their leader, chosen because he had suffered the most. A Jew, a black, a person from Hiroshima, a horribly deformed arthritic, a child with a birth defect. In the centre of the vast plain, they consulted with each other. At last they were ready to present their case. It was rather clever.

The Long Silence

Before God could be qualified to be their judge, He must endure what they had endured. Their decision was that God should be sentenced to live on earth as a man.

Let him be born a despised minority in an occupied land. Let the legitimacy of his birth be doubted. Give him a work so difficult that even his family will think him out of his mind.

Let him be betrayed by his closest friends. Let him face false charges, be tried by a prejudiced jury and convicted by a cowardly judge. Let him be tortured to the point of death.

Then let him die a humiliating, painful, and senseless death. Let him die as a young man. Let him die alone, abandoned by friends and mocked by the very people he had tried to save.

As each leader announced his portion of the sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the throng of people assembled. When the last had finished pronouncing sentence, there was a long silence. No one uttered a word. No one moved.

For suddenly, all knew that God had already served His sentence.

sermon powerpoint 3-21-10

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capable of thisthis

game of kingspaul

likegleaningthe land

sleepgleaningthe land

soldiersgleaningthe

philip zimbardo

lunch dutygleaningthe

game of kingssowingbehold