Death and Resurrection

            I hate the Old Testament lesson from Genesis where God tells Abraham to take his son Isaac and offer him as a burnt offering.  It is really worse than that, God tells Abraham to take Isaac, the son whom you love, to the mountain in the land of Moriah and to offer him there.  Abraham obeys, takes Isaac, gathers up wood for the fire and they trudge on their way.  When they get to the spot, Abraham builds an altar, lays the wood on it, binds Isaac and puts him on top of the wood.  He then takes his knife and prepares to kill his son.  It is only then that God stops Abraham and shows him a ram caught in a thicket, which becomes the burnt offering.  God says to Abraham, do not do anything to the boy, or lay a hand on him, for now I know that you fear God because you have not withheld your only son from Him. This story would be horrible except for the story of the crucifixion of Jesus on the hill outside Jerusalem at the end of his ministry, when God did not withhold his only son from the sacrifice that brought all of us eternal life. 

            I’ve spent a considerable amount of time in my ministry with people who were dying.  I’ve gotten used to the things that are said to them and their survivors: “God never gives us more than we can handle”; “Everything is going to be OK”, are some of them and they are generally said by good people who are trying to help.  The problem is that God doesn’t give us more than we can handle, life does.  Sometimes events become so terrible that we can hardly imagine the pain.  I believe that one of the reasons for Jesus’ crucifixion is so that we can all know that God is in the most excruciating pain that life offers with all of us, all of the time.  There is nothing that we can go through that will exclude the presence of God with us.  That isn’t always easy to see.  Sometimes it is only seen in retrospect, when times have gotten better and we are able to look back.  Sometimes it is not seen at all and we are horrified by the seeming absence of God in the middle of our pain.  That doesn’t mean that God isn’t there; it only means that we can’t always see it.  Can you imagine the occupants of the World Trade Center after the planes crashed into the buildings trying to understand how God is present in that ghastly event?  People jumping from the heights of the building to their deaths wondering where God was and why God’s help was being withheld from them.  No wonder our faith suffers sometimes.  When terror strikes, it seems to have the upper hand.  We seem to be without resource.

            But remember the result of the crucifixion.  God indeed watched as Jesus died on the cross, but that wasn’t the end of the story.  That happened three days later with the empty tomb and the Resurrection.  That certainly wasn’t seen at the time by his apostles or by the women who had watched their Lord die.  But the Resurrection is a message for us that even though death is a certainty for all of us; eternal life is the great gift that God has for us.  Life out of death is a magnificent gift.  It is the one thing that we can rely on even in the face of tragedy.  If it doesn’t always resonate with us it is because we focus on our grief and not on God’s possibility.  I remember one woman who with her dying breath looked at me and said “I have never seen anything so beautiful.”  I have no idea what she saw in that moment, but it is enough for me.

Christianity's Urgent Mission

            We’ve had the feast of Pentecost, sung our Alleluias, wondered about the Holy Spirit and gone on our way.  Now what? 

            Thus begins the incredible season of Pentecost, where we review the whole history of Jesus life, his teaching, his healing and the commission that was given to the church after his resurrection.  It is a remarkable story and it will take twenty-some Sundays to spell it out. 

            It begins with Jesus’ instruction to his disciples on the mountain in Galilee.  He told them to meet him there, and the risen Lord has a short set of things that he wants them to do:  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. –Matthew 28: 18-19.  That is certainly short and sweet and a backbreaking job.  But to be clear, that is exactly what the Christian community has tried to do over the ensuing years.  It was very successful, until in 325 AD when the cross began marching at the front of the Roman Army and the faith became something that was frequently enforced at the point of a sword.  We were a lot better when we were a persecuted minority.  People took the message of Jesus seriously for its own sake and not out of fear that they would suffer if they refused to become Christian. 

            There were certainly a lot of martyrs before 325 AD, but after the church began to enforce the faith, there were many more who were reviled because they stepped out of the belief system that Rome set up..  Certainly Martin Luther and John Calvin were these; as well as the whole contingent of Anabaptists who formed their own communities outside of the purview of Rome.  The Inquisition was a terrible time in the history of Christianity and many lives were ended by its harsh judgements.  When I look at history, names like Joan of Arc, Thomas More, Thomas Becket, and a host of others also stand out.  They didn’t fit the political norm and were killed for their efforts. 

            I love what Paul says to the Corinthian church in his second letter:  Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you .--2 Corinthians 13: 11-12.  Agree with one another!  There is a message for the ages.  When have we agreed with one another?  Our religious problem is that we can’t seem to see beyond our own assumptions.  Theology is a collection of propositions made by those of us who say that we love God and each other, but we have a terrible time agreeing with one another about those things. Every one of our denominations is an instance in history when we didn’t agree.  Certainly the Anglican schism in the Diocese of Pittsburgh is a case in point.

            My esteemed teacher of New Testament, Dr. Reginald Fuller, told me one time when we were leaving one of the buildings at Virginia Seminary:  “What this church needs every hundred years is a library fire!”  This was an eminent scholar who had himself written a number of excellent books.  But he was speaking of the problem that we have in fixing our beliefs in concrete.  Our faith needs to be thought through over and over again.  I believe that this is what is meant by the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in our church.  We need to have a faith that is relevant to our times and places; that takes our culture seriously and understands the presence of God in our midst.  That is the only way that Christianity will continue to be relevant and grow in this time in history when it is needed more than ever.  May we stop being so focused on ourselves and pay attention to what Jesus told us is so necessary to do for the sake of the world.

Forgiveness and Freedom

            Forgiveness is a Christian hallmark.  It is not very well understood, even by those who express their faith very openly.  Sometimes, it seems to me, that those who need the most to be forgiven are the ones who most loudly claim that their faith lies at the heart of their lives.  I think of people who want us to believe that the reason for all of the turmoil in our country, storms, people with guns creating havoc, and the devastation of poverty and distress is because God is mad at us because of our lifestyles.  These pious people point out that the acceptance of people with different sexual preferences is defiantly contrary to God’s word, and they will cite various passages in Leviticus or in Pauline letters to substantiate these claims.  Sometimes, they will also point out other things that are done by people in this country that they also believe are contrary to what they read in scripture. These are things such as care for the poor with food stamps, or other means to subsidize what they believe is laziness on the part of the poor. These statements are always made in a judgmental manner that casts blame far and wide.  They always seem to get acceptance from their own followers and their beliefs are fortified by the community that they are able to establish.

            I believe that forgiveness is a difficult category for all of us.  When we are hurt by others, we remember our injuries and we blame those who have inflicted them on us.  It is a very difficult thing to forgive those who have hurt us, but I know that forgiveness lies at the heart of what Jesus meant when he talked about the Peace of God.  One of the most astounding things in the life of our Lord is his forgiveness of those who crucified him that came during his presence on the cross itself.  Forgive them Father, he said, for they know not what they do. This came from a heart devastated by pain and grief and burdened by the knowledge that his faithful ministry on this earth was coming to an end.  I don’t believe at that particular moment that Jesus knew anything at all about Resurrection.  That was God’s doing and it came as a result of the crucifixion.  It is through the glorious resurrection of Jesus that the continuing work in the world by the devastated apostles gains its strength and meaning. 

            On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of God descended on those apostles and they spoke to all of those who came to see them in their own languages.  People of many tongues were standing around and heard the Word of God proclaimed in words that they easily understood.  That has been the mission of the church from that day to this.  That is another reason that it is difficult for me to understand why judgement has become so much a part of the Christian tradition. 

            When I have counseled people who are in enormous pain, the problem frequently comes from the fact that they have done something that has terribly distressed them, or something has been done to them by someone else.  What they need at this moment is to understand forgiveness above all things, for themselves, or for others.  Forgiveness doesn’t mean that the consequences go away, but it does imply an understanding and a comprehension of the feelings that are so much a part of the problem that they are experiencing.

            Sometimes, forgiveness seems out of the realm of possibility.  When those whom I visited in prison listened to me talk about forgiveness, they would often get a vacant expression on their faces and say things that told me that they believed that forgiveness was not anything that could ever come their way.  It isn’t surprising that they felt this way; the whole correction system is based on fault and punishment.  Those who are incarcerated are encouraged to believe that forgiveness is nothing that they can ever expect. Those who guard them often believe that they are a part of the punishment which is richly deserved.

            When I have seen forgiveness happen in the lives of prisoners, it is a blessing that I can hardly imagine.  The difference that it has made in the lives of these people is incredible.  What it has done is to free everyone from the prison of blame.  It certainly isn’t easy.  Genuine forgiveness involves letting go of the hurt and the blame and relying on God to give us new life that transcends what has happened in the past.  This can result in new life that is beyond our capacity to comprehend.  It is the gift that only the Holy Spirit can bestow, and it is fervently to be wished by all of us.