One of the psalms, Psalm 115 describes with contempt the idols of the people.
Their idols are silver and gold : even the work of men’s hands.
They have mouths, and speak not : eyes have they, and see not.
They have ears, and hear not : noses have they, and smell not.
They have hands, and handle not; feet have they, and walk not : neither speak they through their throat.
The contrast with the sovereign Lord Almighty is extreme ‘Our God is in heaven, He does whatever he pleases’. He is not fixed on a podium in a temple unable to move!
I mention the psalm because of the verse that follows the psalmist’s description of the idols where he goes on to speak of those who worship them
‘They that make them are like unto them’ he says ‘and so are all such as put their trust in them’
What we worship – where we direct our attention, our energy, our money, our time, our focus, all that we are – shapes us. We know this: why else are we so concerned about the amount of time children and young people (let alone ourselves) spend looking at screens? Our worship reflects but it also creates our values.
Our societies may have rejected the ‘old gods’ of Christendom and Established religion but they hang on to the mantra ‘I’m spiritual, just not religious’ and worship gods of their own invention that cannot satisfy or save. These gods don’t have names like the ancient gods of Greece or Rome but they fulfil the same purpose. So, for all that we might live in a secular world that elevates science and a scientific world view, the human desire to find meaning and purpose has not left us. The German philosopher Max Weber said ‘Science is meaningless because it gives no answer to our question, the only question important for us: ‘What shall we do and how shall we live?’ Science gives us power but cannot tell us what to live for.
Or again: many now worship ‘the self’. Nothing must get in the way of us being the person I’m meant to be, of ‘self-actualising’. The thought that you might get in the way of me is unconscionable. I can do whatever I like. Who do you think you are? We see the dark undercurrent of worshipping the self all around us: the strong do what they want (think global politics or internet madness) and the weak suffer the consequences. This was on display in Louis Theroux’s recent programme about the ‘manosphere’: there, male ‘influencers’ monetised their every grotesque comment in order to get rich uncaring as to the consequences for women who they denigrate and presented as having no value unless they are providing sexual gratification for men. To them, this mode of living reflects ‘traditional values’.
Today we have read the Passion Gospel: throughout this week we will reflect again and again on the events of Holy Week. On Thursday we will gather around the communion table and hear once more ‘This is my body broken for you. This is my blood, shed for you and for many’. On Friday we will seek to spend time at the foot of the cross. Why? Why do we do this? Why do we set aside this week to read and hear of the events surrounding the death of a man in Roman Palestine 2000 years ago? We do this because, as one of our hymns says this morning, ‘This is our God, the servant King.’ This is our God. Here is where our attention should be.
It is difficult to free ourselves from this world’s other ‘gods’: their power is great, so great that it corrupts and destroys without us even noticing it. So, to undermine their hold on us, to reject their seductions we give time to reorientate ourselves. We make time to look and see this man Jesus, the Son of God, living and dying in loving obedience to God our Father. And what do we see?
For all that he was bound we see that He is free. Everyone else in the story is constrained. He is the only free agent here. His friends are driven by fear. His enemies are corrupted by power. The crowd is manipulated. The law is undermined. The soldiers are under authority and soaked in violent prejudice. The Roman Governor’s room for manoeuvre is taken from him by the shouts for Jesus’ death and his concern for his status as ‘the emperor’s friend’. Jesus is Jesus throughout: true to Himself. He does not fight back. He does not react as we might. He does what only God can do. The apostle Peter puts it this way: to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.
22‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.’
23When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. 24He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 25For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.
‘Our God’ said the psalm ‘does whatever he pleases’. It pleases Him ‘to reconcile to Himself all things, making peace through the blood of his cross’. Our God, the servant king, reveals for all to see the grotesque nature of the gods of this world, their emptiness and inability to save. Their ways lead to Death. His way leads to life. Loving obedience and obedient love. ‘This is our God’ says the song ‘the servant King’. But let’s hear the whole line.
This is our God, the servant King, He calls us now to follow Him. To give our lives as a daily offering of worship to the servant King.