“Jesus in Twenty Minutes”
February 2, 2025
Matthew 16:13-20
Heart of the Rockies Christian Church (DoC)
David A. Shirey
I'm mindful this morning of the story about the eccentric man who invited some friends over for a pool party. Once everyone arrived, he got their attention and made an announcement:
"Anyone who can jump in my pool and swim one full length will be the recipient of one million dollars cash."
Whereupon everyone dashed to the pool only to suddenly draw up short: it was teeming with alligators. Suddenly, though, there was a splash at one end of the pool, followed by all kinds of frantic splashing, alligator tails everywhere, alligator jaws snapping, all kinds of commotion, until a guy suddenly emerged from the other end of the pool.
"Congratulations," said the host, "I know you can't wait to get your hands on the million dollars."
"Million dollars!" said the man, "I can't wait to get my hands on the guy that pushed me in your pool!"
This morning, I feel like the guy who got shoved into the pool. But I have no one to blame but myself. I shoved myself in. You see, when I was planning sermons for the season of Epiphany – season of Starlight, Foresight, Insight, and Delight – I thought it would be good to do one sermon all about Jesus. Talk about insight and delight! Jesus in Twenty Minutes. But then reality struck. Say what? You’re going to say everything there is to be said about Jesus in twenty minutes? I don’t think so.
So, I’ll tell you what I did. I called for help. I have a few friends older and wiser than I who have done this kind of thing already. Each of them has tried (and succeeded!) in depicting the significance of Jesus in an economy of words. So, I called each of them, told them my dilemma (Something about Jesus in twenty minutes, please), and asked them for their advice.
My first friend said, “Well, if you've got such a short amount of time, what I'd do would be to highlight that Jesus was the heaven-sent Son of God. I'd want to make sure people walked away having heard the remarkable claim made by Jesus himself that “Whoever has seen me, has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Go straight to the heart of the matter and tell them that Jesus was God come down to earth, fully human, yes, but fully divine – God incarnate. In the flesh.
I asked, “Have you got any ideas as to how to do that? How might I go about presenting Jesus as the heaven-sent Son of God, Divinity in humanity?”
And he said, “Well, for starters, I’d paint Jesus in wide swaths of splendor.”
“Wide swaths of splendor, huh?”
“You know what I mean,” he said. “Use words that sparkle. Draw on the vocabulary of glory. Wax poetic. Prose will only get you so far. For instance, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only Son of the Father’”(John 1:14).
"But” he added, “words will only get you so far when you’re dealing with such splendor. Add sound and sight.”
I said, “Sound? How so?”
He said, “Sing! Music takes us into the sphere of the transcendent. Could you ask your choir to sing it? David, you preachers need to realize that saying only goes so far when comes to exploring the mystery and majesty of God. Don’t say. Sing!”
And I said to my buddy, “I guarantee you Ruth and our choir can do that. They’ll sing an anthem that will sing what you just said,
“No one has ever seen God who dwells in purest light
The only begotten Son has brought him to our sight
He is God made visible, Immanuel,
Whoever has seen the Son has seen the Father as well”
And my friend said, “Perfect. And make sure you add some sight to that sound. Add color. You can’t do heaven-sent splendor in black and white. Add something radiant to reflect Christ's radiance.”
I said, “Will a colorful stole do?”
He said, "Fine. You’re on the right path. Worship with wide swatches of splendor. Poetic language. Choir singing. Radiant colors. That's what I'd do to bring out that Jesus is the Heaven-sent revealer of God's glory. To see him is to see God. How's that sound?"
I said, “I can do that. Thank you, John.”
The next friend I called suggested a little different approach. He said, "Well, if it's a matter of time – Jesus in twenty minutes – what I'd point out was the way Jesus spent his life in combat. That's not too strong a word, David. He fought against every force of evil – whatever harms, cripples, alienates, discourages, or destroys human life and human community.
Remind them that Jesus was an earthy, hands-on Messiah. A man of action. (There are Christians, you know, who are too heavenly-minded for any earthly good!) He took the synagogue to the streets – what was taught on the Sabbath to what needed to be done the rest of the week. Remind them how he was a Savior with his sleeves rolled up. He cast out demons, healed the sick, raised the dead, stilled the storm, shook up the apathetic, put down the proud, lifted the humble. Whatever troubled body, mind, spirit, society, or nature, he spent his life doing battle with – down to his last breath on the cross. His body was broken, his lifeblood was shed that the world’s sin-induced brokenness would be mended, reconciled, and healed and the lives of all people be redeemed, blessed, saved.”
I asked, "Any ideas as to how to bring that out?”
He said, “Give yourself to a worthy cause in the name of Christ. A wrong to be righted. A wound to be salved. A perplexing issue to be addressed. An injustice to rectify. Find a person or people whose lives are in the balance and cast your lot with them.
And pray. Passionately. Intercede daily. Jesus was equal parts inspiration and perspiration and his followers ought be also.” Fred Craddock used to talk about praying through clenched teeth. Pray fervently!
He continued, “Martin Luther understood full well Jesus’ entering the fray with sleeves rolled up when he wrote:
"A Mighty Fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing.
Our helper he amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing
Though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us.
We will not fear, for God has willed the truth to triumph through us.
My friend was really getting animated at this point. I was sorry I had to interrupt him. I said, “I’ve gotta go, Mark, I’ve got another call coming in, but whenever you tell me about Jesus it leaves me breathless with excitement – steels me for the battle. Thank you”
The call coming in was from a friend who’s never home. He’s always out doing something for someone else. I had left a message for him earlier and he was calling me back. When I told him what I was doing – something about Jesus in twenty minutes – he said without hesitation: “You don’t need twenty minutes. You just need one word.”
“And what word is that?” I asked.
"Compassion” he said. Literally, ‘to suffer with.’ Lift up the heart of Jesus. He was the compassionate suffering servant who welcomed one and all. Everybody – the poor, the neglected, the outcast, the disenfranchised, the have-nots, the widow, the orphan, the marginalized.”
He said, “You know that Welcome Statement Wendy and you speak at the beginning of every worship service?”
I said, “Yes.”
He said, “Be that welcome.”
He added, “Do you know the classic hymn Love Divine, All Loves Excelling?”
I said, “Yes”
He said, “Then you’re familiar with the verse that goes, ‘Jesus, thou art all compassion, pure, unbounded love thou art.’ David, that phrase of that song says more about Jesus than all the books you have in your personal library combined! Why don't you just point that out and then take up an offering – use it to help, soothe, feed, or house others – then get out of there and find some way to be of compassionate service to another human being.
And before I could say a word he said, "Gotta go. I'm volunteering at the shelter this afternoon. See ya."
I didn't even get to thank Luke for his advice.
When I reached my friend Matthew, he said, "Just remind them that Jesus was called Rabbi. He was a teacher. No, make that the Teacher. He taught God’s will and God’s way like none other.”
“So, remind the people of some of his parables and teachings. Why not just read as much of the Sermon on the Mount as you can for twenty minutes and then sit down? Tell them those who build their lives on his teachings are like those who've built their houses on a rock and those who don't are like those who built their houses on sand.”
Remind them the renewal of churches and of individual Christians has always been the result of encountering God anew in the pages of Scripture. Don’t just snack on Scripture. Chew on it. Savor it. Ingest it. Make it the main course. “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Ps 34:8).
“Add in that Jesus was the new Moses, David’s royal son, a son of Abraham. Tell them he was the fulfillment of all God’s promises and purposes. If God’s promises and purposes for all time were the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, they would fit together into the likeness of Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Do you need an outline?"
I said, “No, Matthew. I took notes as you talked. But if you've got a second, let me run by you everything I've heard today about Jesus.”
Matthew, you want me to make it clear that Jesus was a teacher of God's truth greater even than Moses, the one whose words taught God's will and way like none other. They called him ‘Rabbi’ (which means, Teacher). He taught and fulfilled all God’s purposes.
Mark wants it stressed that Jesus was a man of action. Savior with his sleeves rolled up. Engaged in battle with every form of evil that hurts, divides or destroys life on this earth, even to the point of death on a cross. Equal parts inspiration and perspiration.
Luke wants me to present Jesus as the welcoming, compassionate suffering servant of all humankind. Find a hurt and help.
John wants me to tell them Jesus is the Heaven-sent Son of God who reveals God's glory. To see him is to see God. Paint him in wide swaths of splendor.
I said, “Does that cover who Jesus is?”
He said, "Does that cover who Jesus is? David Shirey, you're just scratching the surface! In a whole lifetime you won’t come close to plumbing the depths of who Jesus is!”
I said, “Well then tell me more.”
He said, "Later.”
I said, “Later?”
He said, “Your twenty minutes are up."
