A Little Help! Sermon by Gerry Gibbs, Feb 22, 2025
Enoch is a story of humour. It was horrible weather on Sunday. The next Sabbath was really good weather. Someone said to the pastor, "let's go do nine holes than go to church". The Pastor agrees, so they go golfing. His last hole was a hole in one!! Amazing!! Elated, Enoch looks at God and says "You gave him a hole in one! Why would you do this?" God responded "Who is going to tell!?"
Matthew 27:26-32
Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.
Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around Him.
And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him.
When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head,
and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying,
“Hail, King of the Jews!”
Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head.
And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him,
put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified.
Now as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name.
Him they compelled to bear His cross.
They scourged Jesus, whipped Him. there are different levels of whippings.
The thief that was caught, whipped two to three times with a standard whip.
Jesus was scourged with a whip made of leather with notches cut into it. This whip would rip into skin. The definition of scourge is to cut and torture. The pain would be so intense it would prevent one from walking properly.
Jesus was given a scarlet robe to make fun of Him. They called Him the King of the Jews.
The garrison was the soldier's territory. The soldiers made the rules there. They could do whatever they wanted with one exception, death. The crown of thorns was made and placed on Jesus' head. It was pushed down so that the thorns caused bleeding. Then they made Jesus walk with His cross.
Jesus did many things before these events. He healed a woman who was bleeding. He healed a man that was blind. He did miracle after miracle, healing after healing. Jesus would be exhausted at the end of the day from showing compassion.
Jesus was tired after the scourging. In fact after the scourging, Jesus had lost physical strength. It was His most human episode.
Many say He was divine. He could have used His divinity for His own purpose. He used His divinity to show compassion to others.
In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus needed help. After the scourging He was to carry His own cross.
Simon bared the cross just when Jesus needed help.
What did not happen here?
Jesus had previously healed, gave sight, brought others from death. Where are His disciples?
John was there. Why did he not help?
Simon was there, from Libya, a seven days journey. He had come here for the Passover. Simon was a visitor. He could see alot of commotion and went to see out of curiosity. He gets pulled into a difficult walk.
When you run into situations with family when Jesus needs a little bit of help, are you willing?
Why did the disciples not help? Were they too scared? Were they afraid of being tortured, like Jesus? There was Jesus' blood on the cross. Some will not touch anything with blood on it as they would be ceremoniously unclean. Some would not help someone from a different faith.
We cannot afford to afford to spiritually put ourselves above others. God wants us to be spiritually kind, generous, compassionate, without self-righteous barriers. These chase people away. When someone avoid a person who does what we do not agree with, for example, wearing jewelry, we use our own spiritual ideas to share with others.
Why do we sometimes avoid sharing God's love with others? Is it fear? We decide they don't want to hear it?
It is possible to love others without putting our own spiritual ideas above their value. Don't push them away with your own self-righteousness. Put God's love first.
If someone needs encouragement, tell them you will pray for them.
Simon of Cyrene said yes. He took the cross and gave Jesus a little help. God asks us to give a little help to others.
Matthew 25: 34-40
Then the King will say to those on His right hand,
‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
for I was hungry and you gave Me food;
I was thirsty and you gave Me drink;
I was a stranger and you took Me in;
I was naked and you clothed Me;
I was sick and you visited Me;
I was in prison and you came to Me.’
“Then the righteous will answer Him, saying,
‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?
When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?
Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’
And the King will answer and say to them,
‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
We have pretty clear directions of the help He needs.
Vs 41-46
“Then He will also say to those on the left hand,
‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:
for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink;
I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me,
sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’
“Then they also will answer Him, saying,
‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’
Then He will answer them, saying,
‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’
And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
People who think they have it right will hear I never knew you.
Put God first in how you treat people. Let people know Jesus you and them. Don't refuse to love when someone loves differently. Put God first in your life and then the people around you.
Project Impact of the Harriston SDA Church lets people in the community know that people care. Project Impact is under the banner of God's love.