“Brothers, children of Abraham, and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent. The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people. Acts 13: 26-31

A lot of people would have said that the last twelve months happened because of our vicarage here. It is our ministry which we gladly and lovingly give to the Lord; and I assure you that next Sunday with tears in my eye, about 1 PM when it is all over I will fall to my knees and thank my Savior for allowing me and all of us to serve Him with our Vicarage ministry. But it isn’t ours.

A lot of people would say that the last twelve months were Vicar Yee’s vicarage. The year of growth where not a soul among us would deny how much his heart grew pastorally and how he has learned to see things with the eyes of a Pastor would certainly make us want to praise God for Vicar Yee’s vicarage. But it isn’t his vicarage.

It is the Lord’s Vicarage. As in all things Jesus is the focus, just like in our text today. It is all about Jesus. What you and I are part of here at St. Paul’s is not some creation of ours or the masterplan of any leader or Pastor around here. Jesus often lets us think that; that somehow it is you and I who came up with this and made it all happen. But it was and is His idea. The Holy Spirit makes it happen. And the fact that a man named Travis Yee who today loses his title Vicar in favor of the title “Pastor” which we hope and pray and are confident he will receive in less than a year is not because it was his plan to be here; it was the Lord’s idea. I believe with all my heart that the Lord prepared us for this Vicar and prepared this Vicar’s heart for all of you saints and for me. And preparing any Vicar for me probably takes a lot of eternal overtime on the Lord’s part! But it is all because Jesus is the name of the game. And the irony is that Jesus will always be the name of the game for us… and for Vicar Yee.

Never forget that the Who is the One Acts points to who suffered an innocent condemnation. Jesus never had a moment of guilt in His life. But in fulfillment of the Scriptures Acts says that all Jerusalem and her rulers condemned Jesus to the worst death possible, something you focused on so much in Lent this year here at St. Paul’s. But it wasn’t just the people back then in Jerusalem nor their leaders who condemned Jesus. You want to know something? If I lived back then I think it would have been my voice shouting the loudest for His death. We all by our sin and wrong condemned the innocent Jesus.

And it wasn’t just Pontius Pilate who put Jesus on that cross. As Acts reminds us and as we confess every week in our creeds, Jesus “suffered under Pontius Pilate.” But it wasn’t just Pilate who put him on that tree of the cross. I find it wonderfully Biblical that Acts today doesn’t even use the word “cross”. It uses the word “tree”. It reminds us that sin started with a tree in the Garden of Eden and sin ended with a tree on a mountain called Calvary. It is because the Bible says that everyone who dies by hanging on a tree was cursed. (Deuteronomy 21:23 and Galatians 3:13) Jesus was not just condemned by the leaders of Israel or even by Pontius Pilate. Jesus on the cross was cursed by God the Father. He was cursed because He carried all of our sins there. In fact, the way I remember it is to recall that movie, “The Passion of the Christ.” When it was made people asked the director Mel Gibson if he himself could be found in the movie. His answer was “sort of… but you won’t really be able to know it.” Mel Gibson appears in one scene in that movie about the death of Jesus and the suffering of the Christ. There is a scene where Jesus hand is held down on the beam of the cross as it lay on the ground. You see the hand of the guard holding the nail and you see the hammer come down. Mel Gibson later revealed that it was his hand that was filmed there; his hand held the nail and the hammer. He told everyone that it was his way of knowing that he and his sins put Jesus on that cross. It might as well have been my hands holding the hammer and nail or yours. We all put Jesus on that cross. He took our curse for us and today you and I are blessed. What a text to have in this final sermon I can give my Vicar.

These things are basics. And I know in my heart that Vicar Yee has always believed these things. He can speak to others about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ because He knows about them personally. He knows what it means to be redeemed and to be loved by the Only God Who could so freely and so wonderfully love the unloveable. In fact, I am absolutely sure that I could echo the words of St. Paul: “I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your … mother …and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.” 2 Tim 1:5

But I can also today go on to finish that statement of St. Paul to a young Pastor named Timothy as I say it to a Vicar of an older Pastor named Timothy:

“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 1: 6-7 Don’t let the Vicarage year end by losing sight of the basics. You have been given many gifts by God, Vicar. A year from now when Pastors gather to place their hands on you at your ordination, which I hope to be at by the grace of God, and which I hope many of us at St. Paul’s can be at because you are called to a Church in New York City or thereabouts, let this basic message of Acts 13 drive you. And as it does, don’t be timid and lacking in self-control. The ministry requires bravery at times and always a self-discipline and zeal because it can be hard work. These days the Church doesn’t need a half-hearted commitment but one that gives everything to the Lord and the people for whom He died and rose again.

And you can do this because you have that one quality which St. Paul also mentioned to young Pastors and even young future Pastors. It says that with a spirit of power and self-discipline we also have from Jesus a spirit of love. That is a quality none of us would deny exists in you by the grace of God. You are easy to love. You love freely. It is maybe your greatest strength. You love in simple ways and you are gentle in the way you show your love. That is the love of Jesus. And it is matched by the love all of us feel at St. Paul’s toward you and always will…. beginning with the Pastor. Hold to the basics. Hold to Acts 13. Hold to Jesus. Amen.