THE SEASONS OF LIFE

JESUS CHRIST – THE MAN FOR ALL SEASONS!

Scripture: John 20:1-18; Acts 1:1-11

INTRODUCTION

Throughout the past forty days and six Sundays in Lent, our sermon series has been focused on “The Seasons of Life.” Two weeks ago, as we talked together about the winter of growing up and getting older, a longtime member of this church gave me a story after the worship service was over. He said, “You could have used this today” and when I read it, I knew he was right. So I saved the story for this morning, and share it with you now, hoping that it will help us prepare our hearts for this Easter sermon.

An older couple was invited by their close friends to come over for dinner one evening. As they sat around the table, the host was impressed by the obvious affection this couple had for each other, and especially by the way the husband addressed his wife with such endearing terms as “honey, darling, sweetheart, pumpkin” and on and on it went. They had been married for more than 65 years, and it was clear that they were still very much in love.

When it came time for dessert and the wives retreated into the kitchen to get the coffee, the host leaned over to his friend and whispered, “I think it’s wonderful that after all these years, you continue to affirm your wife with such affectionate names as honey, darling, sweetheart and pumpkin. It really is wonderful.

The husband was quiet for a moment, then hung his head and said, “I know that confession is good for the soul. To tell you the truth, I forgot her real name about ten years ago.”

On this Easter morning, we have come here to remember, to rejoice and to re-tell all over again the greatest story ever told. It is the old, old story of the resurrection of Jesus Christ almost 2000 years ago, which continues to be told and to transform the world today. As the poet Alice Meynell once put it for all Christians who believe that the story is true, “Our wayside planet bears as its chief treasure, one forsaken grave.”

So with the same affirmation as the apostle Paul, we have come here to lift up that Name which will never be forgotten, the name…which is above every other name, so that every knee should bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

His name is Jesus Christ, He is The Man for All Seasons, and the reason we have come to worship today is that He is alive and at work in our world.

Now, as you have already figured out, I did not invent the title for this morning’s sermon. It comes from another story about Sir Thomas More, who was first called “A Man for All Seasons” by the 16^th century philosopher Erasmus.

If you have seen the play written by Robert Bolt, or the film directed by Fred Zinneman which was produced in the 1960’s and won six Academy Awards, then you already know the story about Sir Thomas More, who was knighted in England in 1521, became the Lord Chancellor and confidante of King Henry VIII in 1529 and was held in high esteem by his sovereign and all the people of Great Britain.

But when the king decided to divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry Ann Boleyn, Sir Thomas More opposed and rebuked him publicly, declaring that the marriage was against the will of God and could not be sanctioned by the Roman Catholic Church.

The king, who had already decided to create his own church, the Anglican Church of England, was enraged and had More imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1534. After a trial and his condemnation, Sir Thomas More was beheaded on the 7^th of July 1535. And just before he died, these were the last words he spoke: “I am the king’s good servant, but God’s servant first.” Four hundred years later, in 1935, More was canonized a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.

That is both a tragic and inspiring story about a Christian man who defied a king because of his conscience, his conviction and his faith in God. But the greatest story ever told is about the one and only person who has lived on this earth who can rightfully be called “The Man for All Seasons.” He is Jesus Christ, who refused to bow before Caesar and would not allow Pontius Pilate or any of the others to have authority over Him. All these centuries later, those ancient rulers are dead and gone, but Jesus Christ is still alive and at work in this world as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And He alone is “The Man for All Seasons.”

II.

How do we know that is true? The gospel stories and our own faith journeys tell us it is so.

In the springtime of childhood, Jesus embraces us today, just as He embraced those little ones long ago, saying Let the children come unto me (Matthew 19:14)…and unless you become like a child, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3).

A group of second grade students in Sunday School were asked by their teacher, “How many of you want to go to heaven?” Every hand went up except one, a little boy in the back of the room. “Don’t you want to go to heaven?” the teacher inquired. And the boy replied without hesitation, “Yes I do, but not with this bunch!”

My hunch is that Jesus would delight in that answer and take that child into His arms with great joy. Because He had then, and still has today, a special place in His heart for all the children of this world, living in the springtime of their lives.

He embraces us as well in the summer of our youth and the years of young adulthood. Jesus’ best-known story about the prodigal son (Luke 15) is at least one indication that our Lord was aware of the temptations we face in adolescence and the grace of our Heavenly Father and our human parents which welcomes us home with open arms.

And as He told the story about the rich young man who asked Him “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16) it is abundantly evident that Jesus understood the hopes and the dreams of young women and men who are making their way in the world and need the guidance, perseverance and strength which He can give to them.

Then, in the autumn of middle age, Jesus embraces us as we face the pressures and possibilities that unfold before us. Just as He turned water into wine at the wedding in Cana (John 2:1-11), He can transform our marriages and families into all that they are meant to be. And as Nicodemus came to Him asking for direction in life, Jesus told him that he needed to be “born again.” (John 3:3) Through that encounter, Nicodemus found the spiritual renewal he was looking for, and so can we.

Moreover, as we grow up and get older and the winter of our lives settles in, Jesus Christ has promised to come alongside us and to guide us as we wind down our careers, make the time and take the time for family and friends, and begin to look toward the end of the journey which leads us through the valley of the shadow of death.

And as Jesus assured His first disciples and all of us ever since that He would walk with us, and give us His presence and peace so that we would never be alone (John 14), He went to the cross to show us that in our own dying and death, we are encompassed by His forgiveness and an unconditional love that will never let us go (Luke 23).

So the gospel stories teach us, and our faith journeys have helped us know beyond the shadow of a doubt, that Jesus Christ is the Man for All Seasons. And the reason we have come here today is to celebrate and thank Him for His grace sufficient for our every need and for the forgiveness and reconciliation He has offered us to that we can become the people He has called us to be.

III.

But the greatest promise of all is that the winter is not the end of life and does not have the final word. Because on that first Easter Day long, long ago, when the followers of Jesus came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been rolled away, and when Mary Magdalene met Jesus in the garden and heard Him say Go tell the others that I will ascend to the Father in heaven, it was then that they began to realize their Lord and Master had risen from the grave and was alive! (John 20:1-18)

Some time after, as those early believers gathered together outside of Jerusalem, they asked Jesus the question, Lord, will you now restore the Kingdom to Israel? He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has fixed by His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.” Having said those words to them, Jesus was taken up into heaven. (Acts 1:6-11)

Do you know what that means? It is a great mystery, but by faith we Christians believe that the winter of death does not have the final word. For when that stone was rolled away and Jesus rose from the grave, God opened the door to the springtime of eternal life and released His resurrection power into the world!

Of course, those first century people could not completely understand what happened back then, any more than we can totally comprehend it today, because the resurrection of Jesus Christ is God’s most glorious mystery in all of history. Jesus said so Himself before His ascension: It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has fixed by His own authority.

But we do know this. Jesus has called us to be His witnesses, and to tell the story of His love and forgiveness, His grace and salvation, His life, death and resurrection – to tell the story about The Man for All Seasons to anyone and to everyone who will listen.

Franklin B. Meyer, the great British preacher of a century ago, first heard the story from his mother and father when he was a child. And on his 70^th birthday, this is what he said:

“I knew Jesus as a boy. I trusted Him because of the testimony of my parents and the faith of my minister. Since then, I have summered and wintered with Him, I have spent days and nights with Him. I know what He can be when a person sins and fails, and when the heart is hard and without love. I now know Him whom once I simply believed, and on my 70^th birthday, this is my assurance: that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him. You cannot wear Him out nor tire of Him. Your sin is no barrier against His love.”

His name is Jesus Christ, He is THE MAN FOR ALL SEASONS, and we who have committed our lives to Him have been called to tell His story to the whole world. It is the greatest story ever told! And if we don’t tell it, then who else will?

In the name of the Father, and the son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.