The Family of God

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Facebook phenomenon of picking sides in political and philosophical battles hurts families. Facebook has made it easy to tell tales out of school, and many have found themselves filled with sorrow at such actions. At one time, we disagreed with our parents’ politics in dorm rooms. We complained about our in-laws over coffee to close friends. Those we loved, but disagreed with or even disrespected, in part, remained mostly unaware of it. They were not hurt very much by it. We could strut and boast and conduct thought experiments in relative safety, without much long-term damage. Now we broadcast our disagreement, and often our disrespect, all over the world in an indelible, digital format that might well follow us the rest of our lives. Was the old way more dishonest than the new? Perhaps. But it was also less damaging and less painful, easier to correct and amend.

Our families are more broken and dysfunctional than we care to admit. We look back at the medieval idea of courtly love and Victorian romance with derision for its artificiality. But any judgment on our part reveals our hypocrisy. We are a people raised on sitcoms and pop music. Our culture’s view of love is that it is mainly a matter of affection and that the good feeling it gives is the highest good. We think love is god, but by love we mean our own amusement and pleasure. Thus, we have little room for sacrifice or duty. If it feels good in the moment, it must be love, and if doesn’t feel good, or if it grows stale, we drop it.

The Suffering of Jesus

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

We gather again this evening to meditate on the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Today, we mark how the Lamb of God offers Himself up for the sins of the world. But this is no funeral service. We are not here to mourn over the dead body of Jesus. Rather, we are here to meditate upon His passion in a more fruitful, more excellent way. We, therefore, meditate on the three-fold suffering of Christ upon the cross.

First, of course, consider the physical suffering of the cross and the events leading up to it. Our Lord has not eaten since the Passover meal He partook with the apostles the on the night when He was betrayed. He was beaten, first by the guards of the Sanhedrin, then by Herod's soldiers, and then by Pilate's men. He was whipped and scourged until His flesh hung in ribbons. A crown of thorns was fashioned and struck into His flesh. Spikes of iron were driven into His wrists and feet. He was suspended high in the air, exposed to the elements. He was fed vinegar.

I AM He

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The rabble, stirred up by the priests and the elders and led by Judas, comes to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Seeing them coming, the Lord steps between them and the drowsy disciples. He asks them, “Whom do you seek?” “Jesus of Nazareth,” they say. A simple answer to a simple question. But the problem is: Is Christ it? Is He, the Son of God, what they seek?

Yes, He is, but He is much more than a simple carpenter's son from a Galilean backwater. To the horde's query, Jesus responds, “I AM.” Not simply “ya, that's me.” Jesus identifies Himself with the holy Name of God, the name above all names, the name too sacred for the Jews even to utter. And the reaction of the horde: “they drew back and fell to the ground.” What else can one do when you come face to face with God Himself. No one else could even begin to assert that he is the Lord God of Israel. They were thrown to the ground with the realization that they were getting much more than they bargained for. This is not just some looney heretic from Nazareth – this is the Son of God!

The Cross Hurts

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The crucifixion of Jesus is difficult for us to deal with. It is a bloody event. He was beaten, flogged with cat-o-nine-tails, pierced with the crown of thorns, and nailed to a rough-hewn wooden cross. Many people have trouble watching Mel Gibson's portrayal of the Passion because of the blood and gore and violence. We, two thousand years later, would rather not dwell on what our Lord suffered on that day. Sweating blood, suffocating in His own bodily fluids, crying out in agony – these are things the Lord of Hosts should not endure.

On a deeper level, the crucifixion is discomforting because it is a symbol of shame. Only the worst of the worst were tortured and executed so. The Scriptures call him accursed who hangs on the tree. Only the most grievous sin would bring one to this point.