| I would like to begin
with the Resurrection of Jesus ….and invite you to come back on Easter Sunday
for a full and complete commentary!! For today, our bulletin cover art
will have to suffice. Rosso Fiorentino’s painting titled Dead Christ
with Angels represents the Mannerism style of the 16th century.
Christ is depicted as a red headed Florentine and there appears to be not
enough room for the massive, muscular Christ. The angels, who are assisting
the dead Christ, are painted in vibrant colors, certainly not colors of
mourning. And the two candles appear to be flickering, a sign that
in the midst of death, resurrection is already beginning to happen.
Let us remember those flickering candles this morning and the Easter promise
of resurrection as we ponder the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.
Today’s focus is the final events of Jesus life. What do you believe about his suffering and death on a cross? How do you interpret their meaning? How do these events inform your faith? These are the questions that the creed asks us this morning. As I affirmed earlier this morning, the events of Jesus’ final days and hours can never change. The order of these events can never change. But how we interpret them is a matter of our own faith and understanding. I must confess to you that I have spent the last 20 years in ministry questioning, rethinking and reinterpreting my childhood understanding of “the passion of Jesus” and it has been the Wesleyan quadrilateral that has guided my journey. Grounded in scripture and tradition, my theology has been re-formed by experience and reason. And so I have come to sincerely believe that the real passion of Jesus was the way that he lived – for truth, for justice, for love, for abundant life. And that it was his passion for life that caused his suffering under Pontius Pilate and his torturous, tragic death on a Roman cross. Now I recognize that some of you might be offended by this understanding; others might downright disagree with me; still others might have no need to question what you have always believed about the cross; while others might be in the process of asking difficult questions about a traditional understanding of the cross. In the end, we need to honor each other's theology, to listen and learn from each other and pray for God’s ongoing revelation as we wrestle and claim what it is that we believe. One way to talk about what we believe and what we do not believe about the cross is to ask “What is the false cross?” and “What is the true cross?” There is a lovely legend behind these questions. It was Constantine’s mother, Helena, who is responsible for the legend. In 326 AD, 14 years after her son’s conversion to Christianity, when he had had a vision of the Christian cross in the noonday sky and saw the words “Conquer by this” written in the heavens, Helena made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in search of the true cross of Christ, the cross on which Jesus had been crucified. And here begins the legend. Upon arrival in the Holy Land, she was assisted by the Bishop of Jerusalem. She unearthed three crosses, supposedly the two on which the thieves died and the true cross of Christ. But she couldn’t distinguish one from the other. So with the help of the bishop she brought one cross to a dying woman who touched it without any change in her condition. She brought a second cross to the dying woman, and again, there was no change in her condition. Finally she brought the third cross, and when the woman touched it she was immediately restored to health. Helena knew she had found the true cross and immediately she sent parts of the true cross to her son, Emperor Constantine. Although this story is mere legend, it not only sustained believers for hundreds of years, but elevated the cross and with it the suffering, dying, crucified Jesus as the Christian symbol. Fragments of wood appeared across Europe, venerated as pieces of “the true cross” in churches and worn as talismans by believers. To this day we “knock on wood” to ward off bad fortune. Using Helena’s symbols of the false and true cross, I ask myself: What constitutes the “false cross?” For me, the false cross is a cross that is the focus of the Christian faith: it is the cross that calls all of our attention to the death, rather than to the life of Jesus. Just like the articles of faith and events of Jesus’ life that appear in the middle of the Apostles Creed, so, too are they in the middle of the story of Jesus’ life. Before his death was life. After his death was resurrected life. “What did Jesus live for?” rather than “What did Jesus die for?” is the question that I prefer to ask. The actual death of Jesus is summarized by a few verses of scripture in each of the gospels: it is his life, not his death that fills the chapters with his real passion for justice and radical inclusivity and desire to heal and make whole God’s creatures and creation. For me, the false cross is a theology of the cross that claims that Jesus’ mission on earth was to be crucified in order to appease an angry God. I can no longer embrace my childhood belief that the brutal death of Jesus was something that God planned and demanded as a payment for my personal sins in order that I might be saved. In the words of Marie Fortune, “My theology is not grounded in Jesus’ suffering and crucifixion but rather in his ministry and resurrection.” Reading Christian history taught me that as early as the second century and then down through the ages, the fathers of our faith formulated an “atonement theory” claiming that because humans had sinned so enormously against God, it would take someone of the rank of God to atone for such a grievous sin. Now in the context of a medieval society that believed that justice and reconciliation was a matter of balancing equals off against one another, this theory made sense. But such a theory leaves me with a vengeful God: an angry, violent God who would conceive an only son by the Holy Spirit and have that Chosen One born of the Virgin Mary for the ultimate purpose of death on a cross. This is not the God that I know and love and serve! My God is not one who seeks revenge and retribution, but who sent Jesus Christ to teach us how to love God, neighbor and self. The false cross is one that glorified suffering: it is a cross that is used to justify violence, oppression and victimization. It is Mel Gibson’s cross that elevates violence and suffering and blood and agony as the defining doctrine of salvation for the Christian faith. Hasn’t the false cross been used as a weapon of violence all too often in our world? I have resurrected the “false and true” cross – a cross made several years ago when I preached on the text “Take up your cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). On it, I have illustrated several examples of what I consider the “false cross.” It was the false cross that Crusaders carried as a symbol of Christian might and right. Did you know that crusaders were promised rewards in the after life and guaranteed eternal salvation if they were to die in the struggle against the infidel, thus marking the first time in Christian history that violence was defined as a religious act and a source of grace? 1,000 years later in South Africa, the cross was used yet again by Christians to imprison and murder, to oppress and violate the rights of black and colored South Africans. In the name of Jesus Christ a whole nation was held hostage. What other examples of the false cross come to mind? The cross becomes abusive whenever suffering is glorified. Often domestic violence breeds a false cross because victims become passive, accepting abuse because Christ suffered and so should they. The false cross has been used as a weapon in Northern Ireland and certainly during the holocaust. On your post-its, take a moment to write down an example, or an historical moment or a theological perspective that illustrates the false cross – a cross of violence, hatred and victimization and then share your example with a neighbor. In Helena’s legend, it is the true cross that brings healing and life. Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10) Similarly, it is the true cross that is, for me, a symbol of the cost of Gospel living. Jesus suffered and died, not because God pre-determined or designed it that way, but because humans designed it that way! (Chittister, In Search of Belief, p. 113) What put Jesus on the cross? I think it was the corporate, universal sin of humanity; the desire of Jesus’ contemporaries to maintain their privilege and power; their refusal to tolerate the reign of God in their midst. Listen again to the voice of God as heard by Isaiah: “Here is my servant, my chosen in whom I delight. I have put my spirit upon him. He will faithfully bring forth justice.” (Isaiah 42:1) Wherever there is justice-making, look for the true cross of Christ. Wherever there is radical, inclusive love, look for the true cross of Christ. The true cross is the cause of Jesus’ death rather than the purpose of Jesus’ living. For me, the true cross is a tribute to non violence. Many of our hymns glorify the violence of the cross. I have grown to believe that Jesus intended the very opposite message. The cross is Jesus’ ultimate act of non violence. Again, in Isaiah, this time in Chapter 53, we hear about God’s suffering servant. “He was oppressed and afflicted; yet he did not open his mouth.(vs. 7) He was cut off from the land of the living, although he had done no violence (from vs. 8-9).” Jesus’ life and death teach us how to love our enemies; how to construct and claim a lifestyle built on “a commitment to compassion, humility, non-retaliation, forgiveness, truth-seeking, reconciliation, and love of others. And this grows out of a life of giving, fasting, praying, trusting and loving God.” (p. 55, From Violence to Wholeness) Indeed, Jesus came that we might have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10) – a life of peace, of love, of hope, of joy. He was so determined by this goal and vision, that the Apostles Creed claims that he literally went to the ends of the earth, to hell itself, to forgive and free all with his love. Yes, the true cross invites us to ask “What did Jesus live for?” rather than “What did Jesus die for?” The true cross is also a source of consolation for those who suffer. Because God-in-Christ suffered and died, the cross is a reminder that God understands our pain, our suffering, our losses, our grief, even death itself. It is such a consolation! Finally, the true cross is a window to the resurrection. Following the verses in Psalm 22 where the psalmist acknowledges the depth of suffering (it is no wonder that Jesus quoted these verses from the cross), the psalmist waits on God’s deliverance. Those important words in vs. 19 read “But you, O God, do not be far away. O my help, come quickly to my aid!” In our church, we do not venerate a dying Jesus nailed to a cross: the cross is empty, symbolizing Christ’s resurrection from the dead. “Do not be afraid” speaks the angel to the women at the empty tomb. “Jesus has been raised from the dead and now goes ahead of you to Galilee.”(Matthew 28: 7) The true cross is like an icon: it is a window to God. We look at the cross but we see through it and beyond it to the resurrection. Fiorentino’s candles flicker even as the angels assist Jesus following his agonizing death. We are reminded that God’s overflowing love claims the ultimate victory. What other examples of the true cross come to mind? On another post-it, write down an illustration, or an historical moment or a theological perspective that reminds you of the true cross. Share your example with a neighbor. As John plays Bach’s “Out of the Depths I Cry to Thee”, I invite you to bring your tithes and offerings forward. Also, bring your “post-its” and stop at the cross and tack up your examples of the false and the true cross. And then spend a few moments in prayer at the rail or back in your pew – meditating and reflecting on your beliefs about the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. And remember to return on Easter to watch Fiorentino’s flickering candles blaze brightly as we celebrate the Resurrection. |