Message by Pr. Eddie Fernandes
Introduction
Hold On Video (lights off…video begins…video ends…lights on…Eddie & Marta on stage) Hold on! How many of you need to take hold of God’s hand this morning because you are struggling? Life hasn’t been easy. Perhaps you’ve lost your job. Maybe the money in the bank account has run out and you cannot pay all your bills. Perhaps you’ve lost a friend or a loved one. You could be separated from your family and country. Or, you are overwhelmed by all of the hatred, racism, anger, evil and sin in the world. You listen to me today a depleted and tired person. You could be sitting there sick in body or in mind, in need of a refresh, of a recharge; in need of love and joy, thirsting for peace and happiness.
We have arrived at the 5th station of the cross today and my message title is: Slide 1 (title) The Via Dolorosa – The universality of suffering. The key people we will focus on is Jesus as he walked the Via Dolorosa. The key teaching is SUFFERING/PAIN. And our Key Scriptures are found in John 19 and in Mark 15.
We begin with the key scripture selecting verses from Mark’s Gospel: Slide 2a (verse) “15 So to pacify the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified. 16 The soldiers took Jesus into the courtyard of the governor’s headquarters (called the Praetorium) and called out the entire regiment. 17 They dressed him in a purple robe, and they wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head. 18 Then they saluted him and taunted, ‘Hail! King of the Jews!’ Slide 2b (verse) 19 And they struck him on the head with a reed stick, spit on him, and dropped to their knees in mock worship. 20 When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified … 22 And they brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha (which means ‘Place of the Skull’) … 24 Then the soldiers nailed him to the cross … 25 It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him.”
A normal life Slide 3 (sub-title).
Jesus was 30 years old when He was crucified. His life had been a normal life up to that point. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John don’t tell us much about his early years. We know only about His miraculous birth, the family’s escape to Egypt, their return to Nazareth, His remarkable wisdom, even as a child, and His visit to the Temple in Jerusalem at age 12. There He debated the most learned Rabbi’s. Some of the Apocryphal literature gives us more details yet we cannot rely on veracity of those accounts as they are contested by most theologians. But we can learn a lot from the context of the place, the people, and the culture He grew up in. He was a Jew, living in Israel and specifically in the region of Galilee. Jerusalem, the capital, was the seat of political and religious power. The Galileans were frowned upon by the educated elite because they were poorer, they didn’t have much education, most were tradesmen, plus they had funny accents. The educated and wealthy elite treated them like people in Lisbon often treat people from my late mother’s region called Alentejo. In Portugal most of the jokes are made about Alentejanos. In similar fashion the Jews mocked those from Galilee, calling them fools and saying that nothing good could ever come from places like the small town of Nazareth in Galilee. In His Omniscience and Sovereignty, revealing His heart for the poor, for the outsider and the disenfranchised, God chose to have the King of the Universe incarnate and grow up in that tiny, backwater and frowned-upon place, among carpenters, farmers, tradesmen and fishermen.
Like every boy His age Jesus must have attended a Jewish school by age six and His parables reveal His background. He was well acquainted with the fishing industry, shepherds with their sheep, marriage celebrations, foxes in their lairs, tax collectors banging at the door, widows looking for lost coins, bakers kneading bread, Roman soldiers oppressing people, and the poor begging in the streets. He grew up as any human being did in His day.
Then the time came. The Father told the Son: your hour has come. Jesus selected 12 men to follow Him as Disciples. In 3 ½ years they travelled the length and breadth of Israel as Jesus exploded on the scene as one of the most remarkable leaders of all time. The Jews knew all about their prophets and they we all exposed to in-depth studies about their religious leaders. Theirs was a history of Patriarchs, Judges, Kings, Prophets and miracle workers. Yet, this man whom people were calling Yeshua Hamachiah was unlike anyone they had ever seen or heard about. He had all the functions, roles and qualities of their revered leaders, in one package. He said things nobody had ever heard. He did things nobody had ever seen. His power and His wisdom were not of this world. They followed Him by the thousands hanging on His every word.
The suffering begins Slide 4 (sub-title).
The week before His life was about to end huge crowds gathered to declare Him as king on what we call Palm Sunday. He entered Jerusalem triumphantly riding on a colt as multitudes screamed out: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” Life was good. Jesus was riding the crest of the wave. His popularity was at its peak. His ratings were off the charts. The disciples were beaming with pride and loving the success. They were with The Man! Then, all of a sudden, in an instant of time, when none saw it coming, everything changed. The bottom fell out. The storm clouds covered the skies and it began to pour. The suffering began. In the space of a week Jesus went from hero to zero. From a heralded Prince to a lowly Prisoner. From a normal Jewish man to a tortured, beaten, despised and rejected Galilean.
Stripped, bleeding, battered and crushed by the might of Rome, by the host of hell and by the weight of all of our sins, a cross was placed on His shoulders and He began the grueling walk down the Via Dolorosa. The Via Dolorosa is the path Jesus walked from the place of his judgment to the site of his crucifixion. It is still visited by millions of Christians every year and the name means, “the Way of Suffering.” In Jerusalem 14 stations mark this path to recall events, either mentioned in the New Testament or in later Christian tradition. The current route of the Via Dolorosa was set during the Middle Ages but originated with events from the 1st century. The significance for believers crosses the boundaries of time, tradition, denomination and space. I have walked, with great emotion, the Via Dolorosa all 7 times I have been to Israel. There is a song about it that I absolutely love and I love the way my wife sings the song since I first heard her sing it when I was 21 years old. Listen to the song.
Slide 5 (image of Via Dolorosa_Jerusalem … lights go off…hall is dark…Marta sings. Eddie returns once she’s done).
The universality of suffering Slide 6 (sub-title)
I began this message by saying Life isn’t easy. I mentioned lost jobs, no money, death, sickness, hatred, racism, evil and so much sin in the world. Life often leaves us depleted, tired, helpless and hopeless. Suffering and pain are universal. We all experience ‘dark nights of the soul’ and ‘seasons of tears.’ The rich don’t escape it, the powerful cannot pay to avoid it, and the stuff we surround ourselves with cannot help us sidestep it. Every human being alive will experience pain, tears and loss sometime, and sometimes repeatedly, in life!
Of course some people, in some segments of the Church, are what I call “salesmen of lies” and “vendors of illusions”. They tell us the world is a great place; that we believers are entitled to God’s richest blessings; that followers of Jesus deserve happiness and joy and bliss as our rewards for following Jesus. They never mention the Via Dolorosa. They promise instant healing, if only we believe. They promise victory-upon-victory, if only we have faith. But, they quickly change their tune when sickness, death, and tragedy befalls their homes and lives. Suddenly their theology changes. But I have yet another question: where are these deceivers now as the world is being ravished by a killer virus? Why aren’t they boldly rushing into our hospitals to lay their hands on the sick and dying in order to heal them? Why aren’t they giving people miraculous solutions to help them get out of poverty as thousands lose their jobs? Why are they not preaching prosperity and blessing as America burns because one insane person choked the life out of another person? My dear friends, these who have the gift of the garb and sell people lies using the Bible are indeed happy, blessed and living the life. Why? Because thousands of people give them millions of dollars in exchange for false and empty promises. My friends the truth, according to the Bible, is one: this world is a corrupted, sin-infected, broken, hurting and damaged place. And we are the culprits. We have made it that way. And because of that we reap the wages of our sins. Because of that we all suffer. But I have great news for you. We who love Jesus are never hopeless or helpless. We who love Jesus can learn, from Jesus, what we must do, what we need to do, when we are walking down on our very own Via Dolorosa.
Hold On! Slide 6 (sub-title)
The video I showed, as we began today, gives us the answer. Hold on to your Heavenly Daddy’s hand and don’t let go of His Promises as you face the fiery trials! Don’t miss out on the meaning, the importance and the significance of what Jesus did with His Disciples the night He was betrayed. We celebrate it to this day, in every Christian Church in every country of the world. He ate the Lord’s Supper as His final act. Listen again to His words recorded in Mark 14, one chapter prior to Mark 15 and the Via Dolorosa. Slide 7 (verses) “22 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it … ‘this is my body.’ 23 And he took a cup of wine … and they all drank from it. 24 And he said to them, ‘This is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people … 25 I tell you the truth, I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new in the Kingdom of God.”
Jesus knew darkness and death were coming. In preparation He reminded Himself and His friends of the Covenant God had made with His people, since the night the angel of death passed over Egypt. The Covenant is a solemn and sacred promise God makes with us that He will always be with us, in us, and for us no matter what happens. Even as plagues, evil, disease or death approach we must take God by the hand and hold on! Jesus was reminding them of that when He said, “this wine we are drinking I will not drink again with you here on earth. I will drink a new wine in a new place soon in the Kingdom of God.” Jesus had set His eyes on eternity; His heart was already at home. He took hold of His Dad’s hand when He said “your will be done, it’s all on you now” and He never let go.
Friends betrayed Him…His eyes looked beyond that. The religious institutions failed Him…His eyes looked beyond that. Political and Judicial power let him down…His eyes looked beyond that. Roman oppressors chanted racist songs, beat Him with sticks, put a crown of thorns on His head, whipped him with a lead whip, ripped out His beard and drove nails through His hands and feet…His eyes looked beyond that. His eyes were on the prize, they were already looking into heaven. In His flesh He was alone, yet in the spirit He saw His Father’s hand holding His hand securely and leading Him on.
Conclusion Slide 8 (sub-title)
I will begin to wrap up by telling you the story of another man who learned from Jesus. A man who faced an enormous trial yet he too found victory by holding on to the hand of God. His name was Polycarp, he lived from AD 69 – AD 155 and God was with him. Irenaeus, Jerome and Tertullian, tell us he was a student of John the Apostle. He was a simple and humble man who eventually became Bishop of Smyrna. He fiercely defended the Christian faith against many heresies. As I am teaching my students in my weekly Wednesday night “Church History group” on Zoom, and all are welcome to join us, simply send an e-mail and I will add you, being a Christian was tough and dangerous in those times. The Roman Empire was deadest on exterminating all Christians.
Somehow Polycarp survived to a ripe old age but the day came when he too would be unjustly and barbarically murdered. He died as a martyr and is considered a Saint by the Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches to this day. His name means “much fruit” in Greek. One of the oldest and most well preserved documents called “Martyrdom” records the day of his death. He stood trial before the Proconsul, Statius Quadratus, who interrogated him before a large crowd ordering him to recant the faith amid threats of being devoured in an arena by wild animals. He resolutely refused knowing that meant he would die, but he held on to the Father’s hand. God was with him. The proconsul threatened then to burn him alive, there and then, if he did not renounce Jesus. Polycarp answered: “Eighty and six years I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King and Savior? You threaten me with a fire that burns for a season, and after a little while is quenched; but you are ignorant of the fire of everlasting punishment that is prepared for the wicked.” Enraged the soldiers grabbed him to nail him to a stake, but Polycarp stopped them: “Leave me as I am. For he who grants me to endure the fire will enable me also to remain on the pyre unmoved, without the security you desire from nails.” Then as the fire started to consume his body he prayed a final prayer: “I bless you, Father, for judging me worthy of this hour, so that in the company of the martyrs I may share the cup of Christ.” The result of his death was “much fruit” as thousands converted because of what they heard and saw. History tells us a wind came and the fires could not kill him so eventually the soldiers drove a spear through his heart. God was with Polycarp and I am convinced they were holding hands when he crossed the threshold into eternity to join Jesus in heaven.
Before I close with prayer may I remind you of the Covenant: God says, I am with you always! He did not promise absence of trials and tribulations, He promised to be with us when we go through them. He is with you today, so be strong and be steadfast.
I am with you Video (lights off…video begins…video ends…lights on…Eddie & Marta on stage)
