Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church

 

Savior from Scratch

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Have you ever made something from scratch---a cake, a meal, a table?  There is something  special about the words "I baked this cake from scratch" or "It's a family recipe" or "This is a hand-crafted solid-oak table."  You could have bought the cake from the store, ordered the same meal for delivery, or bought a table from a manufacturer, but you chose to give of your time and effort to make it yourself.

 

God made a Saviour from scratch.  God could have popped into Jerusalem and declared, "Everyone is saved!" Or even had a full-grown man formed out of the dust ride into Jerusalem and get crucified.  The gospels would be a lot shorter if this were how God worked.  All those chapters and details about God's Son that come before the Holy week accounts are there to tell us something important about God and what God wants us to learn from Jesus; relationships.

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In today's gospel reading, you can almost see Jesus rolling his eyes over the disciples' lack of understanding.  James and John are acting like teenagers in a school cafeteria, trying to reserve themselves the best seats next to the coolest kid.

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But Jesus says to them, "You do not know what you are asking." Jesus shares with them the key to being his followers; it's not about being first, coolest, or at the top of the hierarchy; it's about serving.  Once again, Jesus points us to relationships.

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The cake is special because it was crafted carefully with love for someone special.  The meal is so delicious because it was cooked with a family recipe passed down from generation to generation through relationships.  Jesus is who he is because he built relationships with the disciples and those he met along the way.  He sat with the woman at the well, held little children, and went fishing with his friends.  Loving relationships that led him to the cross to make salvation from scratch.