Sermon - Good Friday

John 18:1-19:43

                                                                   Another Good Friday

 Perhaps it is foolhardy, or at least ill-advised, but I decided that I would tell you that I am beginning to grow weary in my office.  Thirty years ago, when I lead a congregation through its first Lent and Holy Week and Easter, I was young enough or naïve enough or hopeful enough to think that if only the story were to be told – truthfully and powerfully – then the world would surely change.  But it just hasn’t happened.

Maybe the downfall is my own failure.  Perhaps what I perceive to be the right things to do or to say or to write are not the right things at all.  Maybe I am not as clear in my sermons as I think I am; or as precise in my morning devotions as I would want to claim. 

But after thirty years of going through Lent and Holy Week and Easter – well, I just don’t know that I see the world becoming more likely to avoid the sins confessed in the Ash Wednesday liturgy or less likely to join the chorus for bringing an end to all this and calling for the silencing of the One who tells us that we made a decent show of it but that we really aren’t living the lives God would have us live. 

What do you think?  How would you measure it?   

Not that attending worship services should be our prime indicator, but there sure seem to be fewer gathering for these services than there were in 1983.   

Violent crime statistics are actually going down, but if the actions of the SC Legislature are an indication of how safe we feel then we are moving in the opposite direction.  You did see, a few weeks back, the legislation introduced to eliminate the need for a cancelled weapons permit.  Our Legislatures are moving toward an “open display” of firearms – meaning so long as the gun is in a holster on your hip and not in your pocket you don’t need a CWP. 

Jesus said, “You will always have the poor with you,” and we certainly do.  While personal wealth as a whole has increased in our society, the last thirty years has seen a decrease in the standard of living for the bottom third of the socio-economic ladder.  (By the way.  You really ought to know that when Jesus says that (in Matthew and Mark and John – but NOT in Luke) that he is most likely making a reference to Deuteronomy 15:11.  The full verse reads, “Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’”  We are such poor students of our bibles that we think Jesus is giving us license to be extravagant.  Really, he is trying to teach us about the purpose of money and the resources God has entrusted to us.)  Thirty years; the poor are still among us, and getting poorer.

What measure do you have, for determining whether the annual re-telling of the Jesus story is having the desired effect on the world around us? 

I won’t embarrass those of you who have trusted me enough to share family secrets.  But as I look out upon you tonight a whole host of examples of wounded if not broken relationships.  And students – don’t think I am speaking only to the other side of the sanctuary.  You may only be 18 or 20 or 22, but you have your share of tension and in-fighting among those who are supposed to be your closest friends and within the circle referred to as “family.” 

Are we getting closer to the hope Jesus had for us when he opened his arms and died on the cross? 

I tell you the one that is burning at me the most these days.  It arises from my exposure to Martin Luther’s Small Catechism.  This is one where I can get you to do a bit more than just listen to me babble.  Pull out a copy of the ELW.  Do you know that the Small Catechism is printed in the ELW?  Open it to page 1161 – way in the back.  Look with me at the explanation to the 8^th commandment.  That is the commandment which says, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”  See the last line of Luther’s explanation?  It says that we are to interpret everything our neighbor does “in the best possible light”.  Older versions say “defend their actions in kindest of way.”  How do you remember it?  How well do you see it being done among us?  Well I tell you one place where I don’t think we are doing so hot – we seem to be poised to eat each other alive over the kind of addition we will add to this building.  In the argument over a flat roof or a slopped roof we are abandoning the commandment’s instruction to interpret our neighbors actions and thoughts and opinions in the kindest of ways.  (That was a low blow – I apologize for taking such a cheap shot.)

As in each of the past thirty years of my life and work, I read the story of Jesus’ rejection, and betrayal, and trail, and torture, and execution.  I do so out of the hope that a faithful and powerful re-telling will result in a change in the world around us.  But after thirty years I grow weary.  And I hear more voices crying “Crucify him!” than I ever hear saying, “Lord forgive us, we know not what we do.”

I promise that I will be in a different mood on Sunday morning.  I am preaching then, too.  And I assure you that on Sunday I will tell you that regardless of what the world did to Jesus (regardless of how we might ignore Jesus’ story) God will raise him from the tomb and God will say to all of us that we do have every reason to cling to the promise that we too, will rise.

But getting to Easter morning is a cheap ride unless it passes through the Maundy Thursday instruction to love, as Christ has loved us.  It is as hallow as a chocolate Easter bunny unless it follows a Good Friday on which we admit our own insistence that Jesus be silenced; or at least that his words be toned down a bit; or perhaps that we be allowed to see his demands as some philosophical concept of the good society. 

Easter morning is full of promises.  And those promises are made to us and will not be withdrawn or withheld from us.  The One who promises is faithful and trustworthy and true.

If only the same could be said of those to whom the promises are made.

Amen.

Devotion - Maundy Thursday

The disciplines of Lent are stated in the Ash Wednesday liturgy: Prayer, fasting, giving of alms, acts of service.  As I have heard you speak of your Lenten journey, mention has been made of the first; little of the latter.  We have allowed our following of Jesus to become deeply pietistic and rarely practical.

The "New Commandment" from which Maundy Thursday gets its name is to love one another as Jesus has loved us.  His love surely involved praying for his sisters and brothers, but it also meant attending to their bodily needs.

As we prepare the Maundy Thursday liturgy and its ceremonial foot washing, I wonder if the reason we at times find this service uncomfortable is our failure to embrace the fullness of Jesus' life and thus to completely mimic him.

How have you shown the love of Maundy?  The love of the new commandment to love as we Jesus has loved us?

Today is a day to reflect on such things.  Today is an opportunity to continue your spiritual quest - perhaps making greater room for serving the physical needs of those around you. 

Devotion - Wednesday of Holy Week

Spring Break has interrupted our Lenten journey.  I continue to comment on the events of this week, hearing the reply 'Oh yeah, Easter is this Sunday."  But Easter is but one of the days which lie ahead.  Others are equally important.

Today we share in a traditional Seder with the Jewish students.  Tomorrow is Maundy Thursday - the day on which we complete the confession which began on Ash Wednesday.  Tomorrow, we hear the absolution which has been implied but not spoken during the season of Lent.

The reading appointed for today aided me in my journey.  I decided to share it with you, in its entirety.  Forgive me for this job of "cut and paste," but I think Monrad's words are powerful.

"It is very important that we are without pretense when we come before God's countenance   All adornment, all excuses, must be cast aside.  We must not give ourselves out as anything other than we are.  Wares often pass in trade under false names in order to win easier sales; but it is still more common that the human heart houses cravings to which it gives false names in order to justify love for them.  Deceit is called cleverness  greed is called concern for spouse and children; hatred and anger are called zeal for truth and justice.  No sinful desire is found in the human heart that does not sail under a false flag and steal a name that does not belong to it.  It is a great step forward when we are able to give the right name to all that lives within us.  It is one of the blessings of prayer that calls upon us for serious self-examination and brings into the light of God's countenance that which steals around in our souls, half conscious, part truth, part falsehood.  Everything that lives within us should be laid bare in prayer."

Ditlev Gothard Monrad (1811-1887), taken from "The World of Prayer"

Devotion - Tuesday of Holy Week

I continually struggle with the issue of "merit."  In my first call, a member of the congregation had compiled a complete listing of all the passages in the Bible which spoke of "rewards."  She was insistent that "great would be the reward" for those who were faithful.  As time went by, I began to realize she did not consider me one in line for "great rewards."  We experienced God differently and spoke of the experience in ways which did not easily align.

An author by the name of Hans Urs von Balthasar wrote:  "The word 'merit' insofar as it concerns some value conferring a right to something, is theologically an unhappy term that would be better dropped."  He suggests that we make use of the biblical word which stands ready to replace it: fruitfulness.  God tells Abraham that he will make him "exceedingly fruitful."  In John the grain of wheat must die so that it can bear much fruit.  The vine-dresser prunes the vine in order that it might produce more fruit.

We do not merit God's salvation - it comes to us a result of Jesus death and resurrection.  We do not merit any reward - it is an outpouring of God's grace.  We do not merit our status as children of God - we are made heirs by the One who goes before.

As we conclude our Lenten pilgrimage and look back upon our disciplines we do so not in order to gauge our advancements but in order to see the fruit which we have be able to distribute along the way.  Our aim is not to obtain but to share and to provide.

Devotion - Monday of Holy Week

Jesus enters Jerusalem to a huge reception.  The religious leaders had been worried (according to John's account) of the impact of the rising of Lazarus from the dead.  Plots were being devised for the execution of Lazarus, to quite things down.

But then, Jesus comes to the edges of the Holy City and there are new worries.  The leaders of the Sanhedrin begin to see that they can do nothing to stop this movement.  "The whole world" seems to have gone after Jesus.

And so it seemed.

But as we discussed a few weeks ago, in our Wednesday LCM program, they seem to have gone after him.  But their dedication to him is very shallow.  They will change in their attitude toward him; shifted from welcoming him with palms to crying out "Crucify him!"  It is too easy to get caught up on the excitement of Palm Sunday; just as it is too easy to seek to be a part of the decision making group on Good Friday.  We are swayed by the crowd.

It is too much of a cliche to say that each of us much decide for ourselves which crowd we will be a part of.  Each of us will need to determine whether our hands will carry a green leaf or a be clinched in an angry fist.  If we merely follow along, we may eventually exchange one for the other.

Welcome Jesus - into Jerusalem and into your own world.  Make room for him and allow his message to take root.  There was such great need for things to be different in Jerusalem; but the crowd was unprepared for those changes to come.  How great are the changes needed in our world?  Will we tire of the challenge and soon add our voices to those calling for Jesus to be silent?  The week will tell......

Devotion - Thursday, March 14

Spring Break is next week.  That means the campus will be empty and I will be away.  A group of us are heading to Mt. Airy, NC, to build houses with Habitat for Humanity.  Keep us in your prayers.

It also means that today is the last of my offerings on Romans.  When I return, we will be in Holy Week.  The Lectionary shifts its selections away from Romans.  So I pray that you will continue your own reading of these verses, even without my commentary on them.

I do want to comment on one more verse.  It is actually part of tomorrow's reading.  It is Romans 8:28:  "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. "

Paul isn't saying that everything which happens in our lives is good; he isn't supporting the often ill-offered advice that "everything happens for a reason."  He is saying that regardless of what comes in our lives, we can find occasion to be strengthened in our conviction.

In the previous verses, he reminded us "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words."  When we are hard pressed, it is the Spirit who fills in the gaps; when we are confounded, it is the Spirit which brings us hope.

All things work together for good in the lives of those who know God and trust God.  In all things we are able to remain firm in our faith and in our confidence that we will not be separated from God.  So long as we remain attached to God, all things do fall into place and form a cohesive whole.

Devotion - Wednesday, March 13

One of the things which make Romans such a helpful book is that Paul is writing to a community which he had never visited.  As a result, his letter to them had to cover the background which he would have shared with them in his first lessons taught to them.  In Romans, we have a laying out of Paul's theology.  It is helpful to those of us who did not have the opportunity to sit with him and absorb what God had revealed to him.

In chapter 8, Paul begins to make a shift.  Having explained the reasons why God's people could not go on doing what they had been doing (trusting in a set of rules or restrictions to set them free), he now begins to set before his readers what this new way of living. 

He begins, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

All of his reasoning, all of his pleading comes to this one, single point.  We no longer live under the fear or shadow of condemnation.

This is what Paul would have said to the Romans had he been with them.  This is what he would have taught in his first lessons.  This is what he would have communicated in his daily interactions with them. 

Many are the encouragements to slip back to the law.  There are loud voices calling upon us to seek justification by our obedience or by our compliance.  But Paul would have us begin our new life - begin each new day - with the assurance that in Christ Jesus we are set free from our anxiety or worry.