Cross Eyed
Good Friday, April 10, 2009
(John 19; with Isaiah 52:13-53:12 & Hebrews 10:16 – 25 as b.g.)
John 19:16 – 18 - Then they handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. There they crucified him with two others, one on either side with Jesus between them.
Handed over to violence. So it was with Jesus. It wasn't atheists, people who don't believe in any God, who hand Jesus over to such violence. It wasn't only people engrossed in the worldly realm of politics and the military that hand Jesus over. It was both groups TOGETHER.
Nor are the accounts of Jesus' death mere history. They are also very much accounts about us, you and me. As Barbara Brown Taylor (a very fine preacher) puts it, Jesus' crucifixion places us directly in front of a mirror. While in the company of the religious leaders of Jesus' time and place we also see ourselves. They don't want change. They love things the way they are. They have rules and regulations in which they have invested themselves. They are convinced that such rules and regulations have come from God. During the process of Jesus' trial and crucifixion we see that the religious leaders will do anything to maintain their privileged status. In John's Gospel we hear them directly telling Pilate that they have no king, no lord, no number one authority other than the emperor/Caesar. They are even willing to turn their back on God to maintain the status quo. Such action is reprehensible.
But, do we see any part of ourselves in them? Do we allow others to experience violence or neglect while we invest ourselves in maintaining our privilege? Do we turn our backs on Jesus, so that others will not think of us as being weird, odd or different? For what or for whom will we die? We are so quick to parade our sports teams, maybe even our political allegiance. But dare we tell others of Jesus and his deep abiding love FOR THEM?
Do we ourselves seek to know Jesus and his deep abiding love by developing the discipline it takes to actually know someone. Knowing someone involves spending regular time with them in conversation, both listening and speaking. And if we do any of that are we then open to God's Spirit writing on our hearts and minds, doing a makeover in which we will be moved to show and tell others of this great God, of God's love for them? Would we be willing to sacrifice at least some or all of our comfort and ease so that others too may experience the very deep love and provision of God for this world?
My God, don't we realize that even now sons and daughters of God are being killed or at the very least given over to violence in streets and parks, at home and other places in the world? Some of these sisters and brothers dare to decry their abuse, who have the audacity and courage to try to change it are frequently given over to further violence themselves, sometimes on trumped up charges.
Today of all days we must see that Jesus is handed over to violence. In John's Gospel Jesus carries the cross by himself, to The Place of the Skull. For John absolutely no one but Jesus is capable of taking on the forces of darkness, evil, hatred, and death without resorting to them himself/herself. So it is that Jesus goes out carrying the cross by himself.
We need to thank God that He does. But shame, shame on us, that even now Jesus still needs to carry the cross by Himself.
Please look closer. It is on that cross Jesus carries that the Word of God, the Light of the world, the Good Shepherd is executed Be quiet. Watch. Listen. Absorb
John's gospel tells us: "When Jesus had received the wine, he said, 'It is finished.' Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."
Finished! Is this THE END? In some ways it is, absolutely, the end. Jesus has come into this world to shine God's blinding light: God's light of love reveals the darkness both within ourselves and beyond ourselves. This light of God hanging on the cross, handed over to the power of violence, hatred, greed and fear, illumines our desperate need to be freed of all of that. If we are to love and care, to trust and obey God in sharing this love, this forgiveness, an abiding hope in the face of the powers of darkness and death regardless of the personal risk, we need to be freed. In hanging on the cross Jesus shows us, gives us, all people and all creation such love, such freedom.
St. Paul conveys this when he says that NOTHING, not anything in life or death or in all of creation can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. We need to behold Jesus on the cross to believe this. God refuses to exempt God's self from our suffering or any suffering. As followers of Jesus neither will we.
In all these ways as Jesus dies He has fulfilled his calling. Thanks be to God!
But violence, death and evil, selfishness and greed – all these things within us and beyond us, are still "kicking", still trying to defeat God, still working to convince us that Jesus' way of emptying himself, of being willing to suffer and die, to actually love the world and all its people as God's Son can not be the way for us. These powers that the Bible calls "darkness" seek to have their way with us. Too often they do. They want us to give up, to deliver Jesus, to allow his sons and daughters His creation over to violence, to the path of least resistance, to the snares of darkness and ultimate death.
Do we dare stand, kneel, fall at the foot of the cross today? By God's grace we can! It really matters that we do. As we do, we glimpse Jesus. He hangs there for us and for the world. From His cross, He reaches out to our minds and hearts, claiming them. Someday his mission will ultimately be fulfilled. He will draw all people to Himself. But in the meantime may we be among those who are drawn, who by God's grace follow and trust him. We do not need to be given over to violence or to allowing the powers of darkness and death to paralyze us. At the cross of Jesus we begin to see that the last word, the lasting Word, is neither death nor life – but God, who inspite of ourselves reaches out to embrace us! Amen.