Lent 2 B 2009
In his sermon on Ash Wednesday Pastor Fran mentioned a new church that was built and in the process the leaders of this church determined that there would be no crosses in the church. They made an intentional decision not to put any crosses or any representations of the cross in their new church building because the cross is such a negative symbol. They didn’t want their church to be a downer. They wanted to present Jesus as victorious and conquering. Would images of Jesus would be without wounds in his hands feet and side. Would there be no bloody representations of Jesus on the cross? It makes me wonder would there also be no mention of the crown of thorns he wore, or the lashes he bore?
It is no wonder they wanted to forego all this messy talk of Jesus passion and death. It makes us uncomfortable to talk about the suffering of the cross as it makes us uncomfortable to talk about suffering in our world. How do we hear and listen to our neighbors, friends and relatives when they tell us about a cancer diagnosis, a serious injury, an instance of abuse, or a confession of brokenness or hurt? How do we listen when someone comes to us, not with the expectation that we will fix the problem, but only that we will be there to offer comfort, support, and reassurance?
At our best we are open to the pain and suffering. At our best we listen and hear, acknowledging the pain of another. At our best we make known our compassion and care for the suffering one simply by being there for them and by becoming good listeners who listen more than speak, who gaze directly into the eyes of the one who is hurting and open our hearts to their hurts. But this makes us uncomfortable because it means making ourselves vulnerable to taking on some of that pain.
At our worst we avoid the person who suffers entirely. At worst, we change the subject when we start to get to the painful conversation. At worst we send off signals that we are not willing to hear and not willing to feel the pain of another. At worst we deny the cross that the hurting person is bearing by moving too quickly to the promise and hope of the resurrection without spending time with them at the cross.
I have done this and I am sure you have to. I have moved too quickly to finding a silver lining. I have moved to quickly to finding a solution for the problem. I have made the mistake of trying to make meaning out of someone else’s suffering when the meaning to be found belongs to them alone. I have changed the subject for fear of going to deep. I have done all these things, and it does not mean I am a bad pastor, neighbor, friend, or family member. It means that I am human. It means I am a sinner. It means that you and I are finite people, unable to bear the entire world’s suffering, but this is not an excuse to cut ourselves off from it.
In today’s Gospel Jesus corrects Peter for Peter rebukes his master and teacher for openly acknowledging the suffering that Jesus must undergo. “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed….” Peter reprimands Jesus for saying this. Peter is not corrected for being rude or obtuse or speaking out of turn, although he his guilty of all three, what Jesus’ corrects is Peter’s denial of the cross. The fact is that Peter is setting his mind on human things and not divine things. According to human plans being handed over to death on the cross is a defeat. According to human plans the cross is a real downer and if we want to be seeker friendly we should remove it from our churches because it means death, suffering, and loss and defeat. It means we have been trounced by the powers of this world.
(As and aside ask me about white Flags at
No, the cross does not mean defeat; it is the very means by which Jesus accomplishes the victory. When Peter rebukes Jesus for talking about what he must undergo he is denying the reality of the necessity of the cross. For if the victory could be accomplished any other way don’t you think God would have seen to it? If salvation could be gained through any other means, don’t you think God would have spared His only Son? And if there were any other way of becoming a follower of Christ don’t you think Christ would have made it easier for us? But Jesus never says the way is going to be easy. He says the very opposite: "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”
Faithfulness is what is required of us to become followers of Jesus. Faithfulness as modeled by Peter who first denies the cross, and then denies Christ three times, but who in the end proclaims the Gospel of Jesus Christ and who himself dies on a cross. And in the second lesson for today Paul holds up Abraham as a model of faithfulness. This is the same Abraham who when God promises him offspring takes a concubine because he and his wife are not certain what to make of God’s promise even though God’s promise is explicit: “I will bless [Sarah],” God Says, “ and moreover I will give [Abraham] a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.". This is the same Abraham who tries to pawn his wife off on the Pharaoh when he is traveling through
Like Peter and Abraham, our faithfulness will never be perfect, and it will never be flawless, but that should not excuse us from trying to be faithful. Just as our compassion and sympathy for our neighbor will never be flawless or perfect, that does not give us an excuse to ignore them in their time of need. Despite our gravest sins, errors, flaws and imperfections God will still use us. Despite our discomfort with the cross and our uneasiness in talking about someone’s pain God still uses us to show forth his care, comfort, and concern. Despite our reluctance to go to the foot of the cross where Christ was crucified, God still uses us to proclaim the mystery of our faith. Even when our faith waivers: God uses us.
God can do this because even though our concern, care, sympathy, and compassion will never be perfectly expressed, Gods concern, care, sympathy, and compassion through Jesus Christ are perfected. Even though our faithfulness waivers and at times fails—God’s faithfulness in Jesus Christ will never fail but is perfect in every way. Though we are sinners, he is sinless. Though we fall away in retreat, he goes the total distance. Though we will sometimes fail, he will not. And though we suffer and die, he will raise us up. That is the promise of the cross and that is why, though we have sorrow for his suffering, we have hope in his wounds.
You can’t have restoration without the wounds; and you can’t have resurrection without the cross. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
