Can You See Now?

Sermon based upon 1 Corinthians 2:1-13

In a very astute observation Mary Hinkle Shore compares today’s reading from the letter of Paul to the Corinthians to an eye exam. Really, she likens all of what Paul does after his conversation to getting one’s eyes checked. She notes that when one goes to read the eye chart everything can become clearer or more blurry simply by the type of glass that is placed in front of one’s eyes. For Paul the glass that makes all things clear is Christ Crucified. I believe this is the event that shapes how we see the world too!

A few years back I had a conversation with a good friend. Even though we hold seemingly opposing views of God, he and I have the ability to share in intense conversations with neither of us getting offended. On that particular day he told me that he thought Christians today do not strictly live as followers of Jesus. Moreover, people who believe in Jesus also hold onto several other guiding principles. He stated thinking America is the only superpower, ascribing to one political party’s agenda, or even belonging to some group like the Masons could easily play a dominant role in living out one’s life. Looking at me he said, “You cannot possibly think that you identify primarily as a Christian.” It was a bold accusation!

How do I make sense of the world? What can I possibly say in the face of such a violent and tumultuous world? Where do I get my sense of direction in the hurricanes that blow through this life?

Paul, writing to a divided group of self-indulgent people in Corinth, made a way clear that illuminates a different path than the one obvious in his day. The worldly powers did not understand what Jesus came to do. They believed that he was dangerous. They thought he was misguided. They could see that if his message caught hold their power could slip away. Paul when he was Saul was very much a part of that group. He was a persecutor of those who followed Jesus. And yet, when he was blinded by God his vision became ever clearer not through a series of different glass lenses, but rather through the mystery of Christ Crucified.

Paul writes, “’What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him’-- these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.” In our world we can believe a lot of different things. We can so easily get swept up in other belief systems, but Jesus calls us to go with him into and through the mystery of the Cross.

I sometimes try to explain this mystery away, but this is not just a competing belief system, this is how I am to live my life. I believe we are called to follow Jesus by practicing resurrection with God wherever we are and wherever we go. To practice resurrection means that we lay down those things that are dying in our lives. We bury those things that no longer give us life and energy and vitality. In the tomb with Christ those things cease to exist in the way that we once knew them. These deaths are not easy, but require suffering and pain and grieving.

Somehow though the vision that Paul had is something that can allow us to see beyond the foolishness of this world and truly see what God calls us to see. Namely, we can perceive that the things that were being laid down are now being raised up. The valleys are being lifted up. The high places are being made low. And the way of God is being paved, not by some powers of this world, but by the mystery of Christ Crucified.

Human Failure and God's Love

This Good Friday Sermon is based upon John's Passion Gospel. Sermon audio can be found here.

On Good Friday we hear John’s Passion Gospel every year. Somehow though something different sticks out each time that I hear this painful story. Today, I cannot help, but hear the failure of human beings just like you and me. Mistake after mistake after mistake:

Judas betraying Jesus into the hands of a detachment of soldiers and police from the chief priests and Pharisees.

Peter not just wielding the three-fold blade of denial, but also striking Malchus on the ear, as he attempted to save Jesus.

The religious crowd, which recently cheered “Hosanna!” fearfully transforming into a mob shouting, “Crucify Him!”

Pilate tired and apathetic giving up on a man whom he knew was innocent.

Soldiers tearing the garments off of Jesus for their own gain.

Roman occupiers meaning not only to kill Jesus but through crucifixion to embarrass and torture him and his people.

What stands out at first is human failure after failure after failure resulting in the death of Jesus of Nazareth. I think I see this because I want to reach back in time and stop this moment from happening. I want to say, I would never fail you Lord, but as soon as I say those words, I hear Peter telling Jesus he will never deny his teacher. I want to skip over this day.

We in the Church often say that we are Easter people and are in the business of new life, reconciliation, and resurrection. While I fully believe we mean this, we do not wear miniature empty tombs around our necks, nor do we put that symbol on a pole to follow as we make our way through life together. On this day when we have hidden the sign of the Cross I find it difficult not to see the Cross everywhere I look.
Yesterday 147 students were massacred at a Kenyan college primarily because they followed Jesus. Throughout the Middle East ISIS continues to persecute and kill Christians without hesitation. Closer to home over 14,000 people are murdered every year within the United States (FBI Crime Stats). 32 states, including Alabama, still implement the death penalty. Prophets of our age warn us of the harm we inflict on the earth through poor care of Creation practices, yet we apathetically continue our lives of convenience. AK-47s, electric chairs, and smoke stakes are the Crosses of our day. We who are Easter people may just want to skip ahead like fast-forwarding through painful scenes in a movie.

In the movie Shawshank Redemption (a film particularly fitting for this weekend) the protagonist, a man named Andy Dufresne, finds himself imprisoned at Shawshank Penitentiary. In a moment of desperate clarity he says to his friend, “Get busy living or get busy dying.” I think when we simply call ourselves Easter people we tend to twist this phrase around, as we say to Jesus, “Get busy dying, so that we can get busy living.” We are not strictly Easter people, nor is the Cross simply about human failure, nor is today merely a day to make it through.

Last night Peter did not want Jesus to wash his feet. The disciple could not understand what was happening. He protested his teacher’s lesson of service saying, “You will never wash my feet!” Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Yet, this message did not just pertain to the moment when Jesus knelt down at his disciples’ feet. We are now at the feet of Jesus who hangs upon the Cross and we must receive another washing, but this one is not so peaceful or placid.

Jesus did not endure the shame of the Cross because of human failure. This moment when we see the worst in humanity simultaneously serves as the instant when we see just how profoundly God loves us. If we are not willing to gaze upon the Cross, if we cannot see the pain that the Body of Christ still endures today, if we do not see past our own failures to the self-emptying love of this moment, then we are not actually Easter people at all. Unless Jesus washes us with his blood we have no share with him.

This day Jesus shows us the extent of God’s love. When asked by Pilate, “What is truth?” His response as the Word of God is not with mere words, but with the fullest act of self-sacrificing love ever witnessed. What is truth? The Truth is Jesus. And the Truth is if we want to be Easter people, then we have to receive the love of Jesus now at the foot of the Cross.

Jesus willingly drank the cup given to him, he willingly took the load of our failings on his back, and he willingly laid down his life on the Cross. If we receive this love of Jesus, then we too are able to love Jesus as he loved us, not just when things are good, not just on shiny, happy mornings, but when everywhere we look we see the Cross. We are Easter people, but first must be Good Friday people. Unless we are washed by Jesus by his blood we have no share with him in his Resurrection.