The Way of the Cross is Prayer — Sermon by the Very Rev. Dr. Craig Stephans

Let us pray.

Lord Jesus,

we invite you today to sew as you have

sown that you would reap among us all

that you died on the cross to purchase

among us. Lord, we pray that you would

redeem and receive. We pray that as you

live and are seated at the right hand of

the throne of heaven that you would pour

out your Holy Spirit and fill each of us

today with your Holy Spirit, granting us

wisdom and knowledge of you, knowledge

of your will and the faith and courage

to walk and live it out as you have

shown us the way. We pray this in your

name. Amen. And please be seated.

As all of you, I'm sure, know, the

United States, our nation, is currently

engaged in a war with Iran. We're

attacking Iran in myriad ways. And Iran

is responding in myriad ways, attacking

US interests in the Middle East and our

allies. And Israel and other Middle

Eastern nations are involved in this

war. Our US soldiers have been killed

and injured. Many Iranians have been

killed and injured. This war costs us

about a billion dollars a day, each day

that it's waged. And some in our church

have family members and friends who are

in the military who are possibly in

harm's way. And others have many friends

involved.

But for the most part of us, and I speak

of myself particularly,

we've been able to go on with our lives

pretty much as normal without really

being affected very much by this war

that is going on.

Maybe the rise in gas prices and other

costs of living has been annoying. But

isn't it amazing that somehow our lives

are so shaped that our nation can be at

war and we are

only minimally disrupted and don't

really even have to be engaged in it.

This has come to mind as we enter into

Holy Week because

I think that we and again I include

myself here have in a similar way

thought that we can insulate ourselves

from the spiritual war that is ongoing

that is raging all around us and

throughout this world between the

kingdom of heaven and the powers of

darkness.

However, while we may be able to go on

with our lives and possibly not be very

affected by our war with Iran, we cannot

extract ourselves or disengage ourselves

from the spiritual war that exists. The

spiritual war is everywhere and we are

the targets.

It is impossible for us to insulate

ourselves from this war as if it didn't

exist at all for us. Or if it did, it

was just a minor annoyance that gets in

our way sometimes. There's no escaping

this conflict between the kingdom of

heaven and the kingdom of darkness. We

can't be bystanders.

We really have the choice, I think, of

being passive victims in this war or

being aggressive and assertive victors

through Christ. and the powers that he

gives to us to overcome evil. There is

the other choice that we could align

ourselves with the powers of evil that

some do, but I know that we don't want

to do that. So, we need to engage in

this spiritual battle.

The truth about spiritual warfare is

that it is a war that occurs in our

homeland. This is a war that occurs in

our home. This is a war that incurs in

our souls, which is why it's impossible

for us not to be involved in it.

We have to acknowledge it and fight for

our lives, our homes, and our homeland.

This is a war against a sinful nature in

ourselves.

It's a war against a sinful power that

is manifest in this fallen and corrupted

world. And it is a war against the

powers of the spiritual forces of evil.

In other words, it's a war against the

flesh, the world, and the devil. The

path of Jesus from his triumphal entry

that we celebrate on Palm Sunday to the

cross and to the resurrection is all

about this spiritual warfare against

sin, against the fallen world, and the

spiritual powers of evil. To follow the

way of the cross and the resurrection to

which we are all called to follow as his

disciples means we engage fully in this

battle between the kingdom of heaven and

the powers of darkness.

Reflect for a moment on the story that

we just read, the passion of Christ from

his entrance into Jerusalem or a little

bit after that when he enters the garden

of Gethsemane till the cross.

Think about how the beauty of Jesus and

the love of Jesus

was responded to by the evil of sinful

people, the corruptness, corruption of

this world and the powers of evil.

Jesus experienced hatefulness, ugliness,

torture and murder beyond what we could

really imagine.

And we live in the vortex between the

beauty of Jesus and the ugliness that

was manifest in this story of his

crucifixion.

We must fight for the beauty of Jesus in

our hearts, in our homes, in our

homeland, city, community, nation.

the display of what happens to Jesus,

his arrest, his torture, the mocking and

the scoffing, his death on the cross.

That display

is what is the true nature of sin.

The sin that we are all born with. It is

the true nature of the corruption and

evil and determination of this world.

And it is the true nature of the devil

and his demons that have existed way

beyond we ha way longer than we have and

scheme against us and the church

constantly.

Jesus in the story we read today and its

context shows us the way to engage and

have victory in the battles of this war

that take place in our lives and in our

time. And the way that he shows us is

through prayer.

And I want to emphasize to you today the

power of prayer and the need that we

have to engage in it to overcome the sin

that resides in ourselves still to

overcome the powers the temptations

anxieties and oppression of this world

and to even overcome the powers of

darkness.

The weapon of Jesus and his followers is

prayer.

deep, earnest, and intense prayer on our

own with others. And also spontaneous,

quick prayers of the moment,

prayers against sin.

When Jesus enters the garden of

Gethsemane, he demonstrates how to

overcome our nature. Now, Jesus was

without sin, but he was still human,

fully human, fully God. And to go to the

cross was to experience tremendous

suffering.

and he had to surrender himself to the

Lord and to the Lord's will.

In verse 38 of Matthew 26, which was

read today, when he enters the garden,

he says to his friends, "My soul is very

sorrowful, even to death. Remain here

and watch with me." And going a little

further, he fell on his face and prayed,

saying, "My father, if it is possible,

let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless,

not as I will, but as you will. This is

a prayer for us to pray to overcome the

temptations of our sinful nature and the

power and hold that it has on us to do

the things that are destructive to

ourselves to fall on our face to

experience earnest prayer saying, "God,

not my will, not the will of my flesh,

but the will that you have for me."

When Jesus came back to his disciples in

verse 40, he came to his disciples and

found them sleeping. And he said to

Peter, "So could you not watch with me

one hour? Watch and pray that you may

not enter into temptation. The spirit

indeed is willing, but the flesh is

weak." Jesus isn't calling us to try to

live a holy life of our own strength,

our own willpower.

He is calling us to enter into prayer to

put to death the temptations of the

sinful nature to surrender our will for

the sake of God's will that for us is

holiness for us it is overcoming the

powers of sin even the powers of sin in

our own flesh

it is through prayer not making excuses

to indulge ourselves whether it is our

hunger our lustful appetites or our

attitudes or self-righteousness or ego.

It's not making allowance for the flesh.

It is through prayer saying, "God,

strengthen me to overcome temptation

that your will might be done in my

life."

Now, Jesus also experiences the

corruption and the evil and the violence

of the world against him, the powers of

the world, both the Jewish leaders and

the Romans leaders.

And Jesus when he was standing before

Pilate, when he had been turned over to

Pilate, and this is in John 18:36,

John 18:36

Pilate asked him about his followers and

his kingdom. And Jesus answered, "My

kingdom is not of this world. If my

kingdom were of this world, my servants

would have been fighting for me that I

might not be delivered over to the Jews,

but my kingdom is not of this world."

Jesus shows us that as Christians, we

are living in a kingdom that is not of

this world. We are called to live in a

kingdom that is the kingdom of heaven

that is against the kingdom of this

world. But what Jesus is not saying and

what the Bible is not saying is that our

enemies are the people of the world. God

is not against the people of the world.

In fact, John tells us in 3:16 that God

so loves the world and loved the world

that he gave his only begotten son that

whoever believes in Jesus would not

perish but have eternal life. So God

loves each and every person in the world

and demonstrated that love on the cross

by Jesus dying for each and every person

in the world. But the world in itself,

its systems, its institutions, the

desires, the way of the world is opposed

to the kingdom of heaven and is the way

of destruction.

And Jesus shows us the way to overcome

the world through faithful prayer. In

fact, when Jesus enters into Jerusalem

following his triumphal entry, he goes

to the temple and he was teaching in the

temple. And in Mark 11:17, it says that

Mark 11:17

Jesus taught them, saying, "Is it not

written, my house shall be called a

house of prayer for all nations? But you

have made it a den of robbers." God's

desire is that his people would come

together, and his people would be a

people of prayer for all other people in

the world. The way to overcome the

world, the way to respond to the world

is not by giving into its desires,

but by praying for all of those people

in it. That God's house, wherever his

people gather, would be a house of

prayer for the people outside it.

on the cross. As Jesus is dying there

from this crucifixion, from this

horrible violence and torture, he prays

for all those who are doing it to him,

saying, "Father, forgive them, for they

know not what they do." Jesus didn't

come into the world to punish the world

or condemn it. But he came into the

world to serve the world by giving his

life as a ransom for many. And our way

to overcome the world isn't to ignore it

or just get angry at it. It is to pray

for the people in the world.

And then finally, prayers against the

spiritual forces of evil.

We know from the gospel passages that it

is Satan himself that puts the idea of

betrayal in Judas's mind and then at the

last supper, Satan actually enters into

Judas and he goes out and then comes to

betray Jesus. We know that it is the

spiritual forces of evil that are behind

what happens to Jesus. Praise be to God

that Jesus through his death and

resurrection overcomes all of the powers

of evil. They didn't quite know what

they were doing. But Jesus recognizes

the role of Satan and his demons against

his followers and his believers. At that

same last supper, Jesus looks to his

disciples and he says to them in Luke

Luke 22:31

22:31

and he calls out Simon. But he speaks to

all of them in this first phrase and

then particularly to Simon. Simon,

Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have

you all that he might sift you all like

wheat.

But I have prayed for you, Peter, that

your faith may not fail. and when you

have turned again, strengthen your

brothers. Jesus recognizes that Satan is

demanding to have all of his disciples

to sift them, to punish them, to torture

them, to tempt them into falling and

turning from God. What is Jesus's

response? It's not to backhand Satan and

cast him off like he could have. It is

to pray for his disciples, the son of

God, the son of man who has all the

power in the universe. His response to

Satan's attacks is prayer.

I have prayed for you.

Prayer is the means to overcome the

spiritual forces of evil. And he knows

that his prayers are going to be

answered and effective because he says

to Simon Peter, when you have turned,

strengthen your brothers.

Satan is not going to win over Simon

Peter because Jesus prayed for him.

Satan does not have to win against us,

against our loved ones, our families,

our church, this nation, those in the

world if we will pray because our

prayers

move God who moves on our behalf who is

greater than Satan.

Jesus goes on when he's being arrested

in the garden. He's being attacked and

his followers seem to fight against

those who are coming after him. And in

Matthew 26:51,

Matthew 26:51

he says, "Behold, one of those who were

with Jesus stretched out his hand, drew

his sword, and struck the servant of the

high priest, and cut off his ear." Then

Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back

into its place. For all who t take the

sword will perish by the sword." And

then Jesus shows us how to fight against

evil, not with swords and clubs. He

says, ' Do you think that I cannot

appeal to my father and he will at once

send me more than 12 legions of angels?

That's 72,000 angels with just a request

of Jesus. But Jesus is in the process of

sacrificing himself as the lamb of God

who takes away the sins of the world. So

he doesn't call on the angels who could

have rescued him, but he gives himself

over to die for the sins of the world.

In verse 54, he says, "But how then

should the scriptures be fulfilled that

it must be so?" But Jesus in his in

God's grace shows us the power of prayer

that we can pray to God our father in

heaven and ask him for help and he will

send his angels into the midst of our

situation into the midst of our homes,

our families, this community, into the

midst of the world, places we can't

reach, but where we know people are

suffering, we know people are under

threat. We know people are deceived and

lost. We can pray to the father and he

will send his angels to deliver to give

messages to make the way so that people

can come to know Christ. We have that

privilege as those who have been saved

through Christ to come before his throne

with our prayers asking God for help and

to send his angels among us. We don't

control them in any way. We are making

requests unto God. But Jesus shows us

that those prayers that he hears, he is

able and willing to send angels to

overcome the powers of evil. We don't

have to be victims of the powers of

darkness because John shows us in his

first chapter verse 5, that light has

come into the world and that light

overcomes the darkness.

But we have to be active through our

prayers. active in prayers against our

own flesh, against the corruption of

this world, and against the powers of

evil.

And those are the biblical reasons to

pray, the inspirations to pray, the

examples of prayer. But it's not only

that. Even today, neurologists, medical

doctors, scientists, and definitely

ministers have shown the power of prayer

in our own life. Even in reshaping our

brains,

in changing our emotions, our attitudes,

our thought processes,

focused prayer has been studied and

shown to lead to increased social

awareness, which is compassion and

empathy for others. It has been shown to

decrease in the one praying fear, anger,

and anxiety and stress

and create greater emotional stability.

Who here struggles with anxiety, with

stress, with fear, with emotional

instability? You can raise your hand or

we'll know you're all a liar.

I mean, come on. I do. And this shows,

studies have shown that prayer

develops our cognitive focus,

improves our decision making,

leads to healthier mindfulness, care for

others, improved health, body and soul

and spirit. During prayer, ultimately we

become less conscious of ourselves and

more conscious of the God and his power

to change the world, including our lives

and the lives of anyone for whom we

pray. Through consistent prayer,

we bring about the kingdom of heaven in

this world over the kingdom of sin, the

world, and darkness. We fulfill what

Jesus taught us to pray. Our Father in

heaven, hallowed be your name. Your

kingdom come, your will be done. So I

want to leave you with the encouragement

to take every opportunity to pray on

your own with others. You know, every

day you hear things and experience

things that frustrate you, that make you

anxious, angry, sad, desparing, feeling

oppressed.

Don't live into that. Don't accept those

feelings as the norm. You can pray in

response to whatever that stimulation,

that trigger is and God will come to

your aid. God will come and help.

So pray on your own and with others.

Take every opportunity.

Speak to the one who has power over all

creation.

Power over your soul, your heart, your

body, power over your family, your home,

this community, and the world. Amen.