Jesus is Not a Hero
Mark 16:14-20
May 24, 2020 anno Domini – Redeemer
Jesus of Nazareth is no hero. Even though His Father welcomed Him into heaven. Even though He is the center and substance of the Christian faith. Even though He alone is your forgiveness, your hope, your life and your certain resurrection Jesus of Nazareth is no hero.
As we observe the Ascension of our Lord I’m going to argue (and you know how I love to argue) that we should strike the word “hero” from our vocabulary. Jesus isn’t a hero. He is a human. That is why we should be truly impressed with His Ascension, comforted by His work, and confident in His rule. Jesus of Nazareth is a true man. In His ascension He went where no man would dare to go. He was taken up to heaven to appear before His Father.
Would you like to go where Jesus has gone? Right now, taken up, brought before your Father in heaven, the God who sees all, knows all, hears all. Every lie to your parents, every slander against your neighbor, every rebellion against authority, every defilement of your body – it’s all yours and now you stand before the judgment seat of God.
Adam, the first man, only had one sin. He was so ashamed he tried to conceal himself behind leaves and shrubs. Sadly we are so used to sin we don’t even blush anymore, which is why it is necessary to hear God’s Word, to know that God has seen everything you’ve done and unlike your grandpa God doesn’t forget. Don’t take sin lightly. One day you will appear before your Father in heaven.
Which is why we need Jesus. We don’t need a hero. We need a human to do what we could not do. Jesus of Nazareth did not do anything heroic. He simply obeyed His Father. The Son did what His Father asked. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit. He was born of the Virgin Mary. He spoke His Father’s Words and did His Father’s deeds. He healed the sick, cast out demons, raised the dead, so that people would hear His Father’s Word and believe that the Son was sent from the Father. His Father sent Him to suffer and He suffered. His Father sent Him to die and He died. His Father condemned Him to hell and He willingly went. The Old Testament tells us what the Son of God would do and the New Testament tells us He did it. Scripture does not call Jesus a hero. It declares He was fully human who did what humans are to do. He loved His Father perfectly and obeyed Him completely.
Now what does that have to do with Ascension and what does His ascension have to do with you? Jesus didn’t become a man for His own sake. It’s sort of a demotion for the eternal Son of God to be bound to human flesh. He humbled Himself for you. He obeyed His Father for you. He carried your sins to death for you. This was His Father’s way to forgive you, to cleanse you of your sins, to restore your humanity by creating in you a clean heart and a right spirit.
After Jesus rose He “presented himself alive to” his followers “by many proofs.” The disciples saw Him. Touched Him. He ate with them. He spoke to them. He ordained the Apostles, sending them with orders to preach the Gospel. Then He blessed them with those nail pierced hands and they saw Him bodily taken into the clouds of heaven. He sat down at the right hand of God. A man now sits at God’s right hand, your brother, a true human.
At the beginning of this pandemic I heard someone say, “Well, now we’re finally seeing the real heroes recognized.” Moms are recognized for teaching their children. Grocery store employees for providing our food. Nurses for endangering their lives for our lives. But those aren’t heroic things. They’re human things. God created women to be moms and care for their children. God created people with hands and feet and a brain and a heart to have the knowledge, gifts, and compassion to care for others. Eve was made for Adam to love and Adam was made for Eve to honor. The reason we are impressed with the soldier who sacrifices his life or the mother who gives birth to six children or the police officer who brings order to chaos is because we lost our humanity through sin.
What’s the common excuse when we lust or covet or lie? Well, I’m only human. It would be better to confess I’m hardly human or I’m rotten with sin.”
Jesus rebuked the eleven apostles before He ascended because they were slow to believe in Jesus’ humanity. They did not believe the resurrection when they first heard the reports. Their hearts were hard – calloused to believing any good could come from this man Jesus. But then what did Jesus do with these inhumane sinners? He forgave them. He ordained them. He ordered them to go with the gospel, with the water of baptism, and with His Word to catechize the world.
The work of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God and at the same time true man, forgives your sins, cleanses you of unrighteousness. This man makes you man again – human again. He became man for us men and for our salvation.
This past week when our District President courageously informed Governor Walz that we will worship in the Lord’s house next Sunday he pointed out that we have modelled Christ’s love. We voluntarily gave up our right to worship for the good of our fellow citizens. We have stepped forward to assist those in need. We were creative so we could continue to preach the Gospel without offending or endangering others. This is not heroic. This is what it means to be human. We’re simply doing what our Father would have us do.
We deserve no reward. We don’t need accolades. We have Christ Jesus, the Son of God who is true man. Our brother, the man Jesus, sits at His Father’s right hand. By His birth, death, resurrection, and ascension, He has lifted us out of our brutish selfish sinfulness and made us human again. So on that day, be it the day of death or the final day, when we are lifted up from earth and brought before our Father He’ll be glad to see us and we to see Him. He won’t call us heroes, because He’s already called us humans in the name of Jesus. Amen.