Fully Alive to the Last Breath (Maundy Thursday)

Mark 14: 10-25

Roger Lynn

March 29, 2018

Maundy Thursday

(the audio for this sermon will be posted soon)

The storm clouds were gathering. The writing was on the walls. It was growing darker by the minute. Jesus’ message and ministry had put him at odds with the “powers-that-be” and the hammer was poised to come down hard. He could have run away. It would have been an easy thing to slip out of Jerusalem and head back up to Galilee, where he could keep a low profile and quietly live out the rest of his days. All that would have been required would be for him to let go of his passion and abandon his integrity. Oh sure, that would have killed his spirit just as surely as the Roman soldiers killed his body. But at least he would have survived. He could have spared himself all that suffering.

The path he chose instead was to be fully alive, right up to his very last breath. He chose to remain true to his calling – sharing the radical, transforming good news of God’s love with the world. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19) It wasn’t enough for Jesus to simply survive. He had to be really, fully, completely alive – body and soul. And he had to share that passion with any and all who would receive it. For Jesus, being alive meant more than just having a pulse. It meant reaching out to make a difference in the world. Everything about his life was in service to goal.

And so, in those final hours, in the face of the gathering storm of opposition, when retreat might have seemed both reasonable and prudent, Jesus chose instead to continue sharing himself with those around him. He shared a meal with them – in the upper room. He shared a time of prayer with them – in the garden. He shared his life with them – in more ways than can be counted. And ultimately what he shared with them was that which was most precious, most central – a sense of the gracious presence of God. “The reign of God is upon us, right here, right now!” That was his proclamation when he began his ministry. And for all who had eyes to see and ears to hear, that was the good news he proclaimed to his very last breath – not only with his words, but even more fully with every moment of his living and every fiber of his being.

The path which Jesus chose is the path which he also calls us to follow – being fully alive and being fully open to God. It is a path which involves sharing ourselves with the world in service. It is a path which challenges us to place integrity above merely surviving. It is a path which is only possible with God’s help. There will be those moments when the storm clouds are gathering. There will be those moments when running away and hiding seems like the only reasonable choice. There will be those moments when fear threatens to simply overwhelm us. And in each and every one of those moments we have a choice – trust God’s presence or not, be fully and completely alive or not. In his book “Illusions” Richard Bach offers this bit of wisdom. “Here’s a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you’re alive, it isn’t!” The ways in which Jesus went about living, right to the very end, demonstrate just how fully he grasped this truth. May we be that alive for as long as we have breath. Amen.