Lament Rather Than Strategy

When the news of the massacre in Newtown, CT came to me, it was a lot to take in all at once.  At first, I found myself trying to block it out as I didn't want to deal with the flood of emotions that would follow once I really allowed the horrible news to penetrate the depths of my being.  But we can only block out the hurt and pain for so long.  My daughter is 7 and my son is 11.  With every reminder of them, I imagined what it would be like to receive a call telling me I wouldn't see her/him get off the school bus today...not tomorrow, not ever again.  I immediately burst into tears.  I was in touch with the pain of our fellow sisters and brothers in Newtown who are experiencing the worst of all losses. When my children finally came home from school, I was so thankful to embrace them a little longer than usual, kiss them, and look them in the eye and tell them how much they mean to me and how much I love and cherish them.  All the while, it felt so unfair.  "I get to love on my children, but what about these families in Newtown? It's just not fair, God!", I thought.

It is also completely unfair to criticize most responses to such horrific tragedy.  In times of such utter chaos and disorientation, we react while riding on the world's fastest emotional roller coaster.  We hear responses that vary from imprecation upon the perpetrator(s) to offers of mercy and forgiveness.  In some ways, they all seem fitting, because all responses say one thing loud and clear:  We do not know how to respond to the unfathomable.  So, I want to be clear: my responses that follow do not seek to minimize or criticize the responses of others. What follows is simply a way of working through the raw emotions and feelings of helplessness that has been helpful for me in times where chaos seems to reign.

I believe our inability to find the right words, the right actions, the right feelings, in times such as these is appropriate.  We modern people are wired to manage and control the world.  We rely on our own strength, intelligence, and aptitude to make things right, or at least the way we would imagine rightness.  But when tragedy such as this strikes, we become helpless.  We cannot make it go away.  We cannot manage and we cannot control.  There is no strategy to put into place or political agenda to spread that will make things better.  In the end, no matter what we say or do, these precious children are still not coming home to their families, friends, and loved ones.

In times where we are left with tears more than ideas and solutions, the often neglected lament is helpful for a new and healing perspective. In his book The Message of the Psalms, Walter Brueggemann defines the lament as honest speech to a familiar God in time of disorientation that gives the potential for movement from disorientation and towards re-orientation (my paraphrase).  Brueggemann suggests that the church has been largely uncomfortable with lament because it seems to contradict God's sovereign reign.  Laments "lead us into dangerous acknowledgment of how life really is.  They lead us into the presence of God where everything is not polite and civil.  They cause us to think unthinkable thoughts and utter unutterable words.  Perhaps worst, they lead us away from the comfortable religious claims of 'modernity' in which everything is managed and controlled" (53).  Simply put, the lament does not seek to defend God or let God off the hook. They do not offer answers but only questions and those questions are directed to the God for whom the one who prays expects to act.

Some might feel uncomfortable questioning God, and that is understandable.  Many accuse the one who questions God to have a lack of faith, but I believe the one who laments demonstrates extraordinary faith as her questioning is a confession that she is in relationship to a God who intends the world to be other than the current state of affairs. Brueggemann says, "The complaint is not spoken by one who is a stranger to Yahweh, but one who has a long history of trustful interaction" (54).

In situations such as these, modern/post-modern human beings are usually very quick to usurp the speech and activity of God rather than directing activity and speech towards God in expectation that God will speak and act.  Every time something like this happens, without exception, the airwaves become congested with the voices of human beings who claim to see from the perspective of the divine.  Rather than speaking about God, for God, etc., the lament invites us to bring our raw and honest feelings of hurt and betrayal to the God who has been known to bring hope from despair and new life from the tomb.

I believe we are hearing way too many bright ideas concerning how WE fix things or how God is or is not culpable, etc. and not enough expectation that God will and wills to act in the midst of the deep and dark shadows of extreme danger and loss.

Here's an example from Psalm 13.  This is an honest prayer to a God who is familiar to the psalmist.  The one who prays expects that God should and will act.  She knows there is no hope other than the saving activity of God.

How long, O LORD?
will you forget me for ever?
how long will you hide your face from me?
How long shall I have perplexity in my mind,
and grief in my heart, day after day?
how long shall my enemy triumph over me?
Look upon me and answer me, O LORD my God;
give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death;
Lest my enemy say, "I have prevailed over him,"
and my foes rejoice that I have fallen.
But I put my trust in your mercy;
my heart is joyful because of your saving help.
I will sing to the LORD, for he has dealt with me richly;
I will praise the Name of the Lord Most High.

Our Psalter is full of laments for a reason.  It is a very appropriate and faithful response of the church in times that are filled with death, hurt, and disappointment.  Here is a list of psalms of lament in the Bible.    May they help us to direct our speech and activity to the God who can make a difference rather than usurping God's speech and activity through our own vain attempts to control and manage.

Psalms of Lament in the Bible:  13, 22, 86, 35, 74, 79, 137, and 88 among others.  

Here is a song I wrote that was my personal lament when the earthquake and tsunamis hit Japan in 2010.  

Hear our song, O Jesus.
It is our prayer!
For your people -- we're in trouble;
and we need to know you care!

Chorus:
You're enthroned above the waters,
incarnate yourself with us.
Bring to us salvation;
God please keep your word!

You spoke and the waters calmed
you rose and beat down death
can you not save your people?
let us see your outstretched arm!

[Chorus]:

You are Lord of Life
yet death is all around!
Do you not hear our groanings?
Let us see your nail scarred hands!

[Chorus]:

___________________________________________


May God come and come very soon, bringing new life from the pits of despair.  May the comforting presence of God the Holy Spirit make the victory of Christ present for each of the families who experience loss in Newotwn for the glory of God the Father and for the transformation of the world.

Advent Blessings,

Tommy Thompson

Trinity Sunday 2012

Rev. Tommy Thompson
Trinity Sunday

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

The great fifty days of Easter have been a true gift this year.  We’ve journeyed together from resurrection to ascension and from ascension to pentecost.  I celebrate the new creation that continues to grow around us as we faithfully celebrate the good news of Easter.  But all good things eventually come to an end...well, not really, as the ultimate good will never end, but you know what I mean.  The great fifty days are now over...at least until next year.

But why the white and gold you ask?  If Easter is over, why not green? Don’t we need a bit of a rest after all that celebrating?

Because Easter has been leading us somewhere.  Jesus death, resurrection, ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost are not ends in themselves...instead they open a new door for us, and indeed a new door needed to be opened.

Our lives were characterized by sinfulness...ill-being.  We became obsessed with ourselves.  Rather than living out the mission that we were given in our creation, our mission became the mission of those annoying birds in the movie Finding Nemo:  “Mine, mine, mine, mine...”  Our slogan became: It’s all about me.  We learned to serve a new but unholy Trinity: me, myself, and I.

Jesus death and resurrection...his ascension to the Father’s right hand...the sending of the Holy Spirit...all this is God’s response to the mess we got ourselves in.  God is putting the world to rights...the one that we distorted through sinfulness. That’s what we’ve been celebrating the last eight Sundays.

And today we begin a new season with white rather than green because today we are invited to preview what lies behind the door that the triune activity of the Easter season has opened for us.

And what do we see when we crack open the door and peek our heads inside?  We see the life of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Our original home...the space where a place has been prepared for us...the world’s true future.

But this life is so different than the life we’ve learned to live in sin.  This life is not a life of “mine, mine, mine...” It is not the unholy trinity of me, myself, and I.  Instead, it is the life of ultimate love.  power expressed in loving humility, not pride.  selflessness, not selfishness. other centeredness, not self-centeredness. Through Easter, the door is opened for us and it reveals the truth of our God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons, yet one God.

We were not accustomed to seeing anything like this...a multiplicity of persons unified perfectly in love so that they are one.  A world that has been torn apart by division and war cannot understand how this could be, but it is.  God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit...three distinct persons unified perfectly in love.

Can you hear the music when you crack open the door?  God is like a great fugue, where there are two or more melodic lines in two or more voices which is moving us somewhere...from exposition, to development to recapitulation.  All the melodies working together, sharing the same subject or theme, alternating differing ways of presenting the same theme...just one of the lines wouldn’t make much sense by itself...but all together they present one beautiful and dynamic musical composition.

God’s life is like the fugue. The three persons do everything together, alternating back and forth, presenting the same life of love...which is why the Son says he only does the work of His Father and the Spirit is revealed as only speaking what He hears and the Father says, “Listen to Him!”.  The three persons, like the melodic lines, do not work apart from one another, that’s impossible, they’re that inseparable!   And the life revealed is the order of beauty, of life, of love--the kind of order that God intends for all that He has created.

The door Easter has opened for us has revealed the right way of being: The Father, Son and Spirit live in a life of constant giving and receiving from the other and into the other. Each person emptying himself into the other and receiving the fullness of the other and that constantly.  The result of such loving interconnectedness is fruitfulness, new life springs into existence without ceasing.

Brothers and sisters, when Jesus took our humanity upon himself in the incarnation and then sat down at the right hand of the Father in our flesh in the ascension, we entered this life.  The Spirit was poured out upon us so that effects of the Son’s work on our behalf might come to fruition in our lives and the disease of sin’s working in our lives might be cured!

The door of God’s life has been opened for us so that we might be healed from the disease of sin and join God’s mission by revealing the triune life to the world through the way we live life together in Christian community.  The early Christians got this.  They didn’t have to put on huge programs to attract people from the outside...the pastor didn’t have to preach from the roof...they didn’t have to sacrifice the worship of God for the entertainment of people…in short, they didn’t have to ‘rethink church’ or redefine characteristics of ‘vital congregations.’  No these early Christians had something that sinful human beings wanted...the church possessed the food and drink that was the ultimate hunger and thirst of every human being in God’s created world: the life of the triune God.

The early church grew not because they had the best options for the children or the most interesting small groups for the adults.  No the early church grew because they had a sense of believing, behaving, and belonging that drew the world to itself.

I have always been amazed by Acts 2.42-47 which reads:  “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”

Devotion to the life of God through worship led to a holy awe coming upon everyone...but what stands out as much as anything in this passage of Scripture is that “they had the goodwill of all the people.”  The togetherness and other-centeredness of this first Christian community resulted in much fruitfulness for the kingdom of God. Living signs of the new creation were all over the place. This is the natural result of living in triune community. Fruitfulness is inevitable.

Brothers and sisters, times have changed but God has not.  The call of God on our lives this day is to abandon all the programs and shows we put on that calls folks to anything other than the triune life of God! (Most especially to abandon that which does nothing but affirm the sinful trinity that says life is all about me, myself, and I).

The mission of the baptized is to reveal God’s life to God’s world by living His triune life together.

As we die with Christ in baptism, we rise with Him to the place where he ascended and joined our humanity: the right hand of the Father...In the Spirit, we are with the Son at the Father’s right hand.  We experience the vibrancy of this interconnected life of self-giving and other receiving love.  And when the world looks at us they experience a sense of believing, behaving, and belonging like they’ve never known before...it is the drink that will quench their ultimate thirst and the food that will satisfy their deepest hunger.

Sisters and brothers, we are connected with the life that brought forth the universe...we are connected with the life whose love has set us free. May we go into the world and live in such a way that God’s children are welcomed into God’s saving embrace.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever.  Amen.

Pentecost 2012

The Rev. Tommy Thompson
Pentecost 2012
Acts 2: 1-21
May 27 2012

"The Holy Spirit: The Clothing of Resurrection"

We had been waiting as Jesus had told us. There was very little sleep for us as we kept vigil those nights…wondering the meaning of the many events that had just taken place in our lives as we awaited the fulfillment of the promise.  Will we ever see Jesus again?  He ascended into heaven…why did he have to go?  What did he mean by asking us to stay here in the city?  What is this power from on high that we will have as our new clothing?

Could you imagine the days of waiting that took place?  Not knowing when the promise would come to fruition or even what it would be like.

I remember taking Daniel and Hannah to see fireworks a few years ago.  It was a huge event.  There was going to be good music, lots of people, good food, and most importantly, a huge fireworks display.  We arrived early (well before dark) so that we could find some food and a good place to get settled for the festivities.

If I had a dollar for every time I heard one of those two little voices ask, “Daddy, when are the fireworks going to come?!”, I’d be a rich man.  They were so eager with excitement … “Is it about to start?”  “Not yet, Daniel; just be patient, its coming.”  “When is the music going to start daddy?”  “Don’t worry, Hannah, you’ll get to dance…just be patient.”  I can remember the few sideshows that happened before the main performance… you could see it in their eyes… “Is this it?”  Then the residents in the community started shooting a few fireworks…  “Has it started now, Daddy? Has it?”  “You’ll know when the real thing happens, Daniel, you will know…trust me.”

I remember the flash of excitement in Daniel’s eyes…when he knew that his waiting was over…when the real fireworks finally were fired, illumining a perfect summer night.  I didn’t have to reach over and tap him and say, “Daniel, pay attention, this is the real thing.”  He knew it.  Hannah knew it…as her hands cupped over her ears, wondering when the booms would finally end…

I wonder if the disciples experienced a similar situation as we did that night?  I wonder how many things happened during those 9 days of waiting that made them ask, “Whas that it?”  No, … “what about this? is this it?” No…not that either huh…when is it going to finally happen!?

I’m not sure whether or not their vigil was like Daniel and Hannah’s waiting for fireworks, but you can bet your heart that no one had to reach over and tap the disciples after the promise finally came to fruition. There was no mistaking it.  The clothing finally arrived…and it enveloped them.

It was a different kind of clothing than that for which they were accustomed. They didn’t have to put it on…they won’t need to take it off before bathing and going to sleep.  It was such a different kind of clothing.

They were familiar with robes and tunics, but not clothing that begins on the inside and works its way outward.  This is a new kind of clothing…the clothing of the soul, if you will.  The clothing that is the remedy for the disease of our sin.  The clothing that changes us from the inside out.

This is the clothing of Pentecost…the promise of the Father…being clothed with power from on high.  The disciples were all gathered together, different people yet seeking the same clothing.  They were waiting with eager anticipation when it finally happened.

The receiving of the new clothing was so amazing…it is unexplainable.  The best the disciples could do was to describe what it was like…such an unfathomable mystery…the coming of the Holy Spirit…it makes since that’s the only way we’d be able to describe it…

It was like the sound of a violent, rushing wind…filling the entire room where they were sitting.  When this came out of nowhere, they didn’t have to ask, “Is this what we’ve been waiting for?”  It was obvious…the Spirit filled not just an individual, but the entirety of the consecrated space.

But it was also like tongues of fire, resting upon each and every individual in the consecrated space.  The Spirit who came to clothe the apostles was in all places and in one place at the same time; this must be God!

And it happened…they received their new clothing.  They were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

You ever noticed how we act differently or play differing roles depending upon what kind of clothing we’re wearing?  I don’t know about you, but when I have my overalls on, my accent tends to be a little plainer…maybe even a bit more country…but when I have my suit on, well, I talk a little more sophisticated…I walk with my head held up a little higher…when I wear my pajamas, I kinda get in the mode of relaxing…of stretching out on the couch, preparing for a good rest…depending upon the kind of clothes we wear, we tend to take on ourselves different personas.

What kind of persona does one who has been clothed with power from on high take upon herself? hmm…I wonder…  [at this time 5 or 6 parishioners will get up from their pews telling folk, “Christ is risen” in languages other than English and all at the same time.]

Greek: Christos Anesti! Christos Anesti! Christos Anesti!


Latin: Christus resurrexit! Resurrexit vere! Christus resurrexit! Resurrexit vere! Christus resurrexit! Resurrexit vere!


German: Christus ist auferstanden! Er ist wahrhaftig auferstanden! Christus ist auferstanden! Er ist wahrhaftig auferstanden! Christus ist auferstanden! Er ist wahrhaftig auferstanden!


Russian: Christos voskrays! Voisteenu voskrays! Christos voskrays! Voisteenu voskrays! Christos voskrays! Voisteenu voskrays!


Spanish: ¡Cristo ha resucitado! ¡En verdad ha resucitado! ¡Cristo ha resucitado! ¡En verdad ha resucitado!  ¡Cristo ha resucitado! ¡En verdad ha resucitado!  


French: Christ est ressuscité! Il est vraiment ressuscité! Christ est ressuscité! Il est vraiment ressuscité! Christ est ressuscité! Il est vraiment ressuscité!

Wow…that’s what happens?  Speech?  Well not just any speech, but yes, speech...but speech with more conviction than anyone had ever heard before; speech also known as testimony…testimony also known as giving witness to something…And this speech that was the immediate response to the reception of the Spirit occurred in varying languages…like we just heard in this space just now.

Now for those clothed in the Spirit to begin going throughout the city speaking in the native languages of all the people who were in the city must have meant that what they were saying was of utmost importance.  It needed to be clear.  It needed to be intimate.  Yes, some of them understood Greek…but it is the native tongue that one learns to speak most clearly and most intimately.

So it wasn’t simply that they were speaking in these varying tongues…no, that was only the means.  Pentecost wasn’t about people not being able to understand the language of the Spirit.  It was about speaking the language of the Spirit to everyone who would listen; though, admittedly, many could not comprehend yet.

What is the language of the Spirit?  What were these disciples speaking about with such joyful conviction?  They said something of note…I mean all who heard it, none left out, were amazed and perplexed…bewildered…

Maybe a translation from our speakers of the day would be helpful.  Tell us, what were you all saying in those various languages?  Christ is risen!  Truly, He is risen!

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  That’s what they were talking about!?  That’s the language of the Spirit! … It makes sense.  I mean it was the Risen Jesus who, before he ascended, told the disciples, “When the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

It makes sense that this is what the Spirit-filled were speaking about with such joyful conviction.  Acts 2:11 does record the astonished and amazed crowd telling us why they are so perplexed, so amazed: “In our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.”

Brothers and sisters, this is what the clothing of Pentecost does to us.  It changes us from the inside out.  We who were once only witnessing to the age ruled by the evil powers are now clothed as embodiments of the incarnate and risen Son of God…we who once were no people become the body of the ever crucified Lamb of God who reigns for ever and ever!

So today we gather round this baptismal font, the wardrobe of the new creation.  In Holy Baptism, God takes off the clothing of the world that is passing away and pours out His Spirit to clothe us in the power of resurrection.  When you come out of the waters, you begin to take on a new persona…the persona of the Holy Spirit who is the clothing of resurrection. You join the people of God as the body of Christ giving testimony to the new life that Jesus’ resurrection has opened for us and for the entire world.

The Spirit is the clothing of resurrection. Today Angela and Emma will receive the promised gift of the Holy Spirit in the waters of baptism and John and Susan will reaffirm the baptismal covenant.  As we covenant together to grow into this clothing, we will teach each other how to properly wear this holy clothing in the world for the sake of the risen Christ who has saved us.

May the Spirit continue to mold us to fit more and more into our Easter clothes, brothers and sisters, so that we might continue to faithfully witness to the new creation that Jesus resurrection has opened to the world He was sent to save.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!  Amen.

The Homecoming of All Homecomings

The Rev. Tommy Thompson
Ascension 2012
20 May 2012

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

 You’ve all seen the classic movie, “the wizard of Oz,” haven’t you... In this movie, Dorothy and Toto find themselves in a foreign but magical land full of strange scenes and exotic creatures. Though they meet some fantastic friends, they never quite find a place to call home. Toward the end of the movie, Dorothy repeats that line that we all know so well, “There’s no place like home...There’s no place like home...”

 There truly is no place like home...and I bet you can identify with Dorothy can’t you. We find that we are restless until we are finally at rest where we belong. Dorothy felt this way. I feel this way; i believe we all feel this way. We want to be welcome home to that space where we truly belong. Some of us might have already been invited there...some of us might have even accepted that invitation...but others of us are still wondering.That’s what we human beings have been doing for such a long time haven’t we...wandering...seeking....searching...looking for home even while we have places we call home. We know there is something greater for us...some greater mission we are supposed to be involved in....so even though we settle from time to time, we keep on wandering...much like Dorothy and Toto...repeating that phrase, “There’s no place like home....there’s no place like home....

 We once weren’t doing so much wandering ... so much searching for meaning...for our true home. There was a time when we human beings were home and satisfied. Oh what a time that must’ve been! In the beginning, when the God began creating the world as we know it, His masterpiece was humankind. The Triune God formed humankind out of their rich love life. In love, we were made from the dust of the ground and breathed into by the Divine breath of God. Like a newborn baby who comes out of the womb and looks passionately in the eyes of her mommy, knowing immediately who is and who is not mommy, so the humanity Father Son and Spirit formed in love came into existence and looked into the eyes of God as if to say, “mama, papa.” There was warmth in that look...trust...contentment. We were home...not in a temporary dwelling place like our houses, trailers or apartments, but in the place we are meant to be: in the life of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That is our true home: to be in communion with our Creator. To receive all the good he gives to us in love and offer it back to him in thanksgiving. To see that which we offer back in love to be transformed into communion with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit...that is being at home as a human being! ... There is no place like home. There is no place like home.

 We click our heals together just like Dorothy, because whether we realize it yet or not, we are not truly back at home until we are living life in this blessed communion. Our entire being is meant to be in communion. But that is exactly what we decided we’d take a chance on. The Lord warned us like a mother warns a child not to play by a certain tree because there is a hornets nest in it. The mother does not want the child to get stung or face the consequences of being stung by so many angry hornets. But we went outside and instead of playing under the good trees that provided shade for our play, we rebelled and began to stop trusting “mama” “papa” We went and played under the hornets nest and the venom proved to be deadly! The venom of sin’s sting has severed our relationship...it has broken our home. Like a rebellious teenager who wants it his way or no way, we packed our bags and ran away from home. When mama and papa came looking for us we hid. They made us clothes to hide our shame...but we kept on running...And we have not stopped running ever since! Every human being that has ever lived since then has metaphorically clicked their heals together, sighing, “there’s no place like home...there’s no place like home...” ... “wherever home is...whatever home is...”

We’ve been wandering in misery .... killing and abusing one another, playing the role we were never made to play...worshipping the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. Oh but mama and dada never forget that first look...when we looked into their eyes with so much love...so much trust...contentment...when we are home...and they know we have fallen ... they know more than we do....they know we have rebelled and ran away wanting it our way...and like a good mama and dada, they have not stopped reaching out to us...coming to us...making entrances into our chaos inviting us back home.

That’s what the entire Old Testament is all about isn’t it!?! It is The triune God calling us back home through Abraham, through Moses and Aaron, through Joshua, through Samuel Through the prophets. But no matter how much our Creator...our Father, our true Mother has called us back, our pride keeps us running like that teen that ran away from home and never came back...not truly remembering why he was so upset with his parents, but knowing that he cannot go back and face all the pain he caused. So in his pride he pretends he is right and everyone else is wrong. He keeps running, though deep inside through the layers of hardness that have developed over the years, his heals kick in the recesses of his being, “there’s no place like home! there’s no place like home!’ And even though we kept running, our God, the Lover of us all, no matter how rebellious we have been, kept on seeking us out.

And in the fullness of time, he sent His only Son, Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, to make the most Holy of entrances ever made into our chaos. He came down to us, humbling himself, since that is the nature of our mama and papa and becoming completely one with us...feeling the consequences of the sting of those hornets oh so long ago. He represented everyone of us in the life he lived, in the death he died and in the new life he opened through His glorious resurrection! Like a big brother who sees his little brother or sister take a nasty fall, he ran to us and got down on our level, looked us in the eye, wiped away our tears, gently lifted us up in his loving arms, comforting us, all for the purpose of putting us in the lap of mommy and papa.

Now that is what ascension is all about. If Jesus doesn’t ascend, big brother doesn’t pick us up and put us in the lap of His Father! You see, the ascension is so important because the ascension is Jesus, our sinless and victorious big brother who loves us and represents us all, lifting us up from our mess and uniting us with the Father once and for all! That is why today is homecoming...Because Jesus became one with us...because he represented each one of us...because he took the full force of the consequence of our rebellion head on and whipped its butt through his death and resurrection...Because he took that which he assumed, namely the entirety of our wanderings as human beings...all lives and went back to the Father, now we can be at home ... where we truly belong! We can abide in God’s deep love for us like never before...

 Have you ever seen a mother or father look into the eyes of a child who came back? A child who stopped loving and once again started loving and trusting and finding contentment in their care? When we accept in the Spirit what the Father has done for us through the Son, and we go back home, OH THE JOY OF THE TRIUNE GOD! He remembers that wonderful day when he breathed His life into us, making us in His image and likeness...he rejoices knowing he gets to walk that journey with us again...the journey of becoming fully at home...becoming everything He already knew we could be.

Today there may be somebody here today who has been clicking their heals together for so long wandering where home might truly be. Maybe today God has revealed to you that His life is your true home and that because Jesus has ascended into the heavenly realm, now our humanity has been joined with the life of God. Maybe you hear the Spirit whispering deep with you, inviting you to simply believe in faith that this story is true...that you can go back home. He has restored that broken relationship and wants to journey with you as you becoming everything he already knows you can be. In His ascension, Jesus has taken us to our true home...big brother saw our nasty fall and came to our rescue...he has lifted us up to His Father and His Father is about to pour out the healing balm to heal our wounds. Amen.

The Sixth Sunday in Easter

The Rev. Tommy Thompson
The 6th Sunday in Easter
John 15:9-17
13 May 2012

“Mothering Easter”

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

Abide in my love.   This is the invitation Jesus gives to us this sixth Sunday in Eastertide .  And I don’t think I have to remind anyone here today that, in the U.S., it is Mother’s Day.  What a day for us to hear Jesus offer this invitation.  Abide, rest, dwell, remain...in my love.

I believe Mother’s Day gives us a wonderful perspective on Jesus’ invitation.  When I hear, “abide/dwell/remain in my love,” I think of a mother saying that to her son or daughter but not with words so much as actions.  There is nothing like the nurture of a mother...her entire life is a life of hospitality for her daughter, son, or children.  And her children know that their mother is a place of receptivity, warmth, and safety--an open space where they can be and grow without fear.  Children instinctively know that it is from the bosom of their mother that they will be nurtured to life and grow and flourish in the world into which their mother nursed them.   ...  Mothers, I commend you today, for your selfless love and care for the most vulnerable, for it is a visible expression of the very love of God...in your nurture of children in this world, you give us all a peek into the window of God’s life. Your open arms...your hugs...your wiping away the dirt from the boo boo and kissing it better...your way of snuggling your little ones into your bosom for that bedtime story...the way you comfort at bath-time...your calm confidence and patience when their in adolescence, your wise and loving wisdom and generosity when your little ones find themselves in need as an adult... Thank you for being such a picture of God.

There really is something about motherhood that is so amazing...such a perfect picture of the Trinity’s inner life that is none other than the abiding, resting, dwelling, remaining in love.  Jesus knew this love from before the beginning of time and forever.  Jesus knows what it means to be loved and to love, as the life of God is the loving receptivity of the other and the offering of the self in love to the other always and forever.  As Jesus said, “As the Father as loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.”

You know, I believe Jesus not only knew this love in his divinity from God the Father, but also from one that we, sadly, seem to have thrown away with the bathwater...Mary, the mother of Jesus.  Is there any mother more honorable for Christians to celebrate and emulate today?  You want the best definition of a mother -- look no further than Mary.  You want the best definition of a disciple of Jesus Christ -- look no further than Mary.  You want the best example of what it means to be a servant of God?  Look no further than the one who called herself -- “the slave of the Lord” and then validated her words with her actions.  In Mary we see so perfectly what it means to accept the invitation Jesus gives to ‘abide in my love.’  Through Mary Jesus even got to experience what that love was like in his true humanity.

Why is it that we forget about her?  Is it simply because we don’t want to look too much like our Roman Catholic or Orthodox sisters and brothers?  Is it because we know that before the Reformation the church had committed heresy concerning Mary, but we forgot exactly what it was that they did, so therefore, out of fear, we make no room for Mary or any of the saints in our lives?  What is it?  Because to be protestant certainly doesn’t mean to ignore the community of saints...and it certainly doesn’t mean that we somehow ignore what Scripture even says about this beautiful woman of God: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.”  We certainly are included in the ‘all generations’ when Scripture says “all generations shall call me blessed,” aren’t we?

Consider the story of the angel’s annunciation to Mary in Luke’s Gospel.  Talk about accepting the invitation to abide in God’s love!  Do you remember the first words the angel said to the young virgin named Mary:  “Rejoice favored one! The Lord is with you!”   Mary is favored of the Lord.  The Lord is with her.  When Scripture reveals someone like this, it is time to pay attention...this is one worth honoring for she is one who has found favor with God!  So much favor with God that the Son of God/the Son of the Most High would become the Son of Man through her faithfulness and servanthood.  And this young virgin’s response to being the womb of the new creation -- of the new man -- of the new humanity: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”  Is there a better picture of discipleship anywhere?

Mary consents.  Mary cooperates.  From the very beginning human beings have been doing anything but consenting and cooperating with God towards the salvation of the world.  But Mary says yes and not only with her words.  She will mother the Son of God into the world making her the Theotokos -- the birth-giver of God, the Mother of God. Because God is receiving flesh from her womb, he will become the Son of Man and will find himself as a real human being...not some super-human.  That is the mystery of Jesus -- he is fully God and fully human at the same time.

In Jesus humanity, he really was a vulnerable baby.  He really did poop his cloth diapers and it really did stink!  and Mary...this young woman favored of God, lovingly changed Jesus’ diapers.  She wiped him, she tickled his tummy while he lie there on the changing table looking up in her eyes.  As she gazed in his eyes she never forgot the angels words, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.  He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”  In every kiss...in every hug...with every time Jesus fed from Mary’s breast she remembered his purpose and nurtured him toward that end.  Mary would let nothing come between her Son and His growing into his mission to become the king of the ages.  

Do you ever consider the pressure you’d be under as the holy family, Mary and Joseph, to raise not just a boy but this boy?  And they did it!  They never lost perspective.  Mary loved him selflessly...she participated in God’s very life by bearing God’s life into the world and mothering the Good News until the Good News came to full fruition at Easter.  Mary mothered Easter into the world and for this I will always honor her and cherish her above all women and above all human beings.  Mary is my hero...and because she is Jesus’ mother, she is all of our mother. We all have her to look up to...to honor...to listen to ...to deeply love and respect.

I think the text that speaks to me the most concerning the Mother of God is John 19:26-27 where Mary stands by Jesus even in his most difficult time -- hanging from the cross.  She doesn’t try to get him down...she’s that selfless. She knows what God is doing and trusts God the Father more than anything on earth.  She knows who to commend her Son to for the fulfillment of creation and she does.  Mary understands what is happening in the life of Jesus more than anyone else.  Here’s what John says concerning this moment: “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’  then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ and from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.’”  In this exchange between Jesus his mother and the beloved disciple, Jesus makes clear that Mary is not only his mother but the mother of all Jesus followers.  He asked us to care for her...to protect her...to honor her.

For those of us who may not have had the most ideal mothers growing up...those of us who didn’t get to peak into the window of God’s love nearly enough, this is good news.  You have a mother...she is the mother of the new humanity, Jesus Christ. If you abide in Him, in His love, she is right there in the center of it, right beside her son...there to mother all who live and abide and remain in Him.  I love that image on the front of your bulletin this morning.  As you gaze into it, you see her love...her protective gaze...nothing will come between her and her Son and his holy mission.  She holds Jesus there...every image of Mary we have she’s with Jesus.  But Jesus represents us all...he is the new humanity and he has placed us all in the arms of the most loving mother who has ever existed and who will ever existed.  Those of us who haven’t experienced mothering as a visible expression of God’s life...Jesus invites us to sit with his mama for a while.

Mary is the mother of Jesus, which means she mothered God into the world.  As we gaze into her life, we are invited to emulate her by the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit.  In the 3rd century, St. Cyprian once said, “"He cannot have God for his Father who does not have the church for his Mother.”  In other words, God the Father has commissioned the church to be his hands and feet in the world -- the body of Jesus Christ through which God’s people come to salvation.  He choose to cooperate with humanity in asking Mary to be the womb of the new humanity. Now he asks us, the baptized, to be like Mary for the world-- the nurturing mother who mothers Jesus into the world...who mothers the Gospel into the world...who gives birth to the good news of Jesus Christ through our abiding in the love of Jesus Christ.  This is the lasting fruit Jesus talks about in John 15.  As we learn from Mary, we too, mother the good news of Easter into the world so that more and more might know the deep and abiding love of God that nurtures and mothers us into the new creation that will know no end.  Amen.

The Fifth Sunday in Easter

The Rev. Tommy Thompson
5th Sunday in Easter
John 15:1-8
6 May 2012

“The 33A.D. Vintage”

Today as we are being led closer and closer to the table of our Lord, the risen Lord stands among us and says, “I am the true vine and my Father is the vine grower.”  What a better time than now to reflect upon the fruit of the vine that becomes for us the saving blood of our Lord Jesus Christ -- the cup of our salvation.

In this country, though it is becoming more and more well known, wine is still highly misunderstood and unfortunately, through prohibition, has even got a bad wrap at times.

But it wasn’t always this way...

When European settlers arrived in the U.S., wine was a huge part of their social and religious life.  So when they arrived and found that a native vine for growing grapes was present in the ‘new world,’ they quickly began to work towards the production of wine.  But there was a problem.  This wine didn’t in any way resembled the European wines for which the early settlers had grown accustomed.  No matter how hard they worked with this vine, the wine was always less than mediocre.

So the settlers came up with a solution.  They decided it would be a good idea to transport cuttings of the European vine here to the ‘new world’ in hope that it would take root and grow and produce fruit that would become that taste of home they had missed so much.

There was so much potential. In Europe the vine demonstrated such great fruitfulness...if this happened here in the new world, life would be good.  But, again, there was a problem.  The European vine was planted, and it began to grow; but the longer it’s roots grew in the soil of a new land, the settlers learned that the poisons of the land were too much for this vulnerable vine.  It did not have the immunities necessary to thrive and produce fruit that would in time become fine wine.

The vine had much potential...but over time it did not have the immunities necessary to overcome the diseases of the land.

In the Old Testament, we hear of another vine, another vineyard, another vine-grower.  The vine / vineyard was Israel.  The vine-grower was God.  As you know, God called the Hebrew people out of slavery in Egypt to take upon themselves the most special of roles--to be light to the nations.  Israel’s sole objective was fruitfulness.  She was to produce fruit as an offering to God that would in turn be transformed into communion with God and all those who tasted of that fruit in the land in which God was planting his choice vine -- Israel.  Israel was to invite the Gentile world to drink of the wine of her fruitfulness, which would truly satisfy...that would lead the nations back to their Creator.

So Israel, the choice vine of God, was planted in a new land...in new soil.  She established root and began to grow...but there was a problem.  Like that European vine that was planted on American soil and over time was revealed to not have the immunities necessary to overcome the diseases of the Land, so Israel, did not overcome.  She bowed to gods of the land.  She drank of the cup of the fruit of the wrong vines and she settled for less than mediocre wine.  Rather than offering fulfillment to the nations through covenant faithfulness, Israel accepted the world’s cup as if it were the best God had to offer. Instead of living in the land as a unique and holy people whose unique lifestyle would draw others to the source of that community --God’s own life--Israel allowed herself to be grafted into the cultures for which she was supposed to be a change agent!

Hear what God says about Israel, his choice vine, through the prophet Isaiah:
Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting; he expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!”

So the purpose of God planting his choice vine in the land was for fruitfulness that would lead the nations back to their Creator and eventually to the restoration of a sin-diseased world.  But Israel did not have the immunities necessary to thrive in covenant relationship with God in a land full of the disease of sin.  She became, once again, part of the old vine -- part of the problem rather than God’s solution.

So God says to Israel through the prophet Jeremiah:  “I planted you as a choice vine, from the purest stock. How then did you turn degenerate and become a wild vine?”

The image of Israel as the vineyard and God’s choice vine are prominent in the Old Testament and in the first century world where Jesus lived.  The problem is that whenever we hear of this image in the Old Testament it always coincides with the reality of Israel’s inability to produce fruit that would make a difference for the life of the world.

After some time in the early stages of life in the U.S., a new vine was introduced to the soil of the new world that had the immunities necessary to not become tainted by the diseases of the new world.  This new vine enabled the grapes that the early settlers enjoyed in Europe to, at last, be enjoyed in the the U.S.  The new vine was made known to the public and it was received with enthusiasm.

Hear what Thomas Jefferson said concerning the new vine: "By making this wine vine known to the public, I have rendered my country as great a service as if I had enabled it to pay back the national debt..."   When the vine species from which some of the world's finest wines came to the U.S. and finally thrived, it became more and more well-known.  And knowing this vine was an occasion of great joy as attested to by this quote from Jefferson.

The Gospel of John reveals to us another new vine that fulfills and makes the heart eternally glad.  "I am the true vine.  My Father is the vine grower."  At these words, the first century Jewish audience would’ve experienced a flood of those Scriptural references concerning Israel as the vine that God planted yet who did not produce good fruit.  This is why Jesus qualifies vine with ‘true.’  What Israel could not do...what Israel did not have the immunities to fight, Jesus did and he did victoriously!  God loved the world so much that when the original vine did not flourish, He provided a new vine that proved to have the immunities to fight the sin disease of the land and overcome.  The Vine Grower became the vine...God became flesh and blood--he became one of us -- the fulfillment of Israel, the fulfillment of humanity, in order to graft us into the true vine of his own life where we can now bear fruit by association with Him and not our own attempts to fight diseases for which we do not have the immunities to overcome!  The immunities needed to fight the diseases of this world reside in the sap that flows through the vine that gives us branches life.  This sap is what enables us to every good work we do in response to Grace...we branches only produce fruit because of the life-flow that circulates through us by being one with the Vine and the Vine Grower.  That sap is God’s love that sustained Jesus in His human life, that overcame the sting of death, and that has made you and me a part of the vineyard that produces fruit that becomes life for the world.

And brothers and sisters, this new fruitfulness produced by this true vine is fruit through which the Father is making the best wine of the best vintage known to man.  The vintage is somewhere around 33A.D. and this particular wine of this vintage will never spoil! It will never spoil nor will it ever run out as it is in the divine cellar for eternity.  It appears at every altar in the world where thanksgiving is offered to the Father for the Son who became salvation for us.  The Holy Spirit makes the fruit of the vine that we offer in thanksgiving the fruit of the vine of God’s faithfulness in Jesus Christ and we drink the sap of God’s love that continues to give life and produce eucharistic fruitfulness in and for the sake of God’s world being made new in Jesus Christ.

Thomas Jefferson was ecstatic to make known the new vine created by grafting cuttings of the European vine into the rootstock of the Native American vine, and he should’ve been.  How much more, then, should you and I rejoice in the making known of the TRUE vine to the public through our own abiding & remaining in the vine and thereby producing fruitfulness for which the world can drink and never be thirsty again! Abide in God’s choice vine so that the world will know about this vintage that will never spoil and never run out!
Amen.

The Fourth Sunday in Easter

Rev. Tommy A. Thompson
Ezekiel 34, Revelation 5, John 10
4th Sunday of Easter
The Noble Slaughtered Lamb Shepherd

I’m a big fan of good sequels or movie series.  I love movies such as Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and the Chronicles of Narnia.  You finish one movie and already begin anticipating the next…how the story will continue…guessing which themes were really important in the current film that will be developed and given greater meaning in the next.  I find sequels to be exciting…they keep us on our toes with anticipation…we can’t wait to see what happens next.

I think the best way to understand John 10 is to see it as a sequel of sorts.  With Scripture, we easily read the entire chapter and assume it’s all always flowing immediately.  But many times, even one chapter of Scripture can be divided and be a retelling of occurrences that happened at completely different times.  John 10 is like this.  It is a Part I and a Part II.  Maybe the movie could be called “From Tabernacles to Dedication: The Shepherds Point of View.”

Part I of the sequel is set in the fall, during the close of the feast of tabernacles: John 10:1-21.  Part II of the sequel is set a couple months later, in the winter during the feast of dedication: John 10:22-42.  But, even though this chapter marks two separate events and two different settings, they are put together in one chapter in John’s Gospel because they belong together…like a great sequel.

In order to understand either Part of the sequel, one thing is required…just as if you were watching Harry Potter or the Lord of the Rings.  You must watch all of the films in order to understand the happenings of each part in the overarching story.  The same for John 10.  In Part I of John 10, Jesus reveals himself as the Good Shepherd or the Model, Nobel Shepherd.  He goes into much detail describing himself as this Shepherd and outlines for his audience what his shepherding is like.  And this first part of John 10 is beautiful as it is.  But when we understand the purpose of it, it’s meaning is opened to us like never before.  Jesus isn’t speaking of himself as the Good/Noble/Model Shepherd simply because he thought that would be a great way to describe himself.  No, there is much intentionality on Jesus’ part.  Like a fine film producer, he is anticipating part 2.

As we said earlier, Part 2 of the John 10 is set during the Feast of Dedication.  During this celebration, the theme of Messiahship was profound. The very purpose for this gathering was to remember the ‘rededication of the temple’ as result of the heroic action of Judas Maccabees in the second century BC, who carried on his father’s zeal, fighting against the infidels, reclaiming the holy city for the people of God, rededicating the temple, and fortifying its walls once again. It was such an important victory for the people of God that it marked the beginning of the feast of dedication/Hanukkah that Jesus and the people of God are gathered for in the Gospel Lesson some 200 years later.  And since this time, the militaristic victories of Judas Macabees had formed the way the people of God understood the long-awaited Messiah.  As much as anything, they expected the Messiah would resemble Judas Macabees and bring ultimate victory to the people of God and that it would happen as result of him being a mighty warrior in battle.

So this feast, the one Jesus is attending at the end of John 10, awakened hopes for the coming of the Messiah probably more than any other.  But the idea was that this Messiah would be the mightiest of all...even mightier than Judas Maccabees who its hard to imagine without also imagining the war and bloodshed he and his army brought upon those who opposed & defiled the law of God!  …  What is important to remember that the feast of dedication is heavily shaped by the militaristic victory of the people of God through the heroic and zealous efforts of Judas Maccabees.

Let’s go back to Part I of the two part story of John 10.  Jesus, like a great movie producer, sets the stage perfectly for the unfolding drama of Part 2.  He knows the theme of Messiahship is going to come into sharp focus at the upcoming feast of dedication which is only a couple months away.  He also knows which readings from the bible will be read at that future celebration.  And one of them was the same reading we just heard: Ezekiel 34.

Jesus knew what he was doing all along.  Before the celebration of the dedication of the temple, where Messiahship and Ezekiel 34 would be the central, He reveals himself to be the fulfillment of the hopes of Ezekiel 34.  He is planting seeds for further growth and development in the hearts and minds of all who are journeying closer to the celebration.  They’ll have to sit with those words for a while, and when Ezekiel 34 comes into focus at the upcoming feast, his words will come back to them heavily…and they will seek him out and the story will continue to unfold.

Months before it happened, Jesus knew that during the feast of dedication, they’d be focusing upon the scripture that blasts the corrupt leaders of Israel for being shepherds who fail to feed the sheep but instead feed themselves! He knew they’d be hearing the scripture that blasts the crooked leaders of the people of God for not strengthening the weak, not healing the sick, not binding up the injured and not bringing back the strayed...for ruling God’s people with harshness and allowing them to be scattered and devoured by predators...Jesus knew that the prophecy would be read that promises that God himself will rescue his sheep from the mouths of these shepherds who are more like predators!

Ezekiel 34 gave the people of God ruled by greedy and fat leaders hope: God will search for his sheep and seek them out....He will gather the scattered...he will feed them with good pasture...he will see to it that they lie down in good grazing land and feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel! The hope of Ezekiel 34 is that God will be the shepherd who finally gives his people rest and pasture...and no other! He will seek the lost, bring back the strayed, and strengthen the weak while destroying the fat and the strong!

The pivotal verse of Ezekiel 34 is verse 23 where God promises, “I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.”

The promise made is that these promises will come to fruition through the successor of David’s everlasting throne being anointed as King over Israel once and for all...the promise of deliverance will happen through the enthronement of God’s Messiah.

And once the new shepherd/King/Messiah is set up/enthroned to feed God’s people, a new age...a new creation will come to fruition...an age where the wild animals, those who manipulate the people of God and whose rule is venal and vile are absent...where there are no longer places of danger in God’s creation, for the sheep may live in the wild and sleep in the woods securely. There will be an abundance of blessings for the Messiah’s flock...trees of the field yielding their increase and God’s people resting in security on their own soil...For God will break the bars of their yoke and save them from the hands of those who enslaved them! When this happens, they will know that the LORD is their God and is with them and that they are His people....His sheep, the sheep of His pasture...

This is the promise of Ezekiel 34, one of those promises proclaimed by the prophets that is the ultimate hope of the people of God...and just a couple months before that text becomes the focus of attention, Jesus stands before the Jewish people and proclaims:

“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”

Imagine how Jesus’ words would have brought disorientation and a multitude of emotions upon those who heard him! The feast of dedication is coming...the time when the people of God celebrate the rededication of the temple, the cleansing of corruption and the promise that God would bring about ultimate cleansing and renewal amongst the people of God!

Now Jesus is interpreting Ezekiel 34 in such a way that he becomes the fulfillment! This makes him either God or the Messiah or both. Jesus’ words stick with them for the months that lead up to the feast of dedication....they’re awaiting a Messiah...they know God will be Shepherd...but they expect it will happen in a blaze of militaristic glory reminiscent of the victory of Judas Maccabees...but this Jesus claims he is this Beautiful, noble, model shepherd, words reserved for God & His Messiah alone...and he claims that this new era will be brought in not by militaristic might but by self-giving love?!

Oh the questions that Jesus left them with...some wondered if he was insane...others believed he must be saying something of note...i mean he did recently just heal a man born blind... And the plan works to perfection.  Those words did stick with them.  They couldn’t stop the potency of those words from striking them at their very core.  I bet they couldn’t wait to see Jesus again. So, when the time had finally arrived for the feast of dedication and they heard that Jesus had been spotted on Solomon’s portico, they asked him the question that he had anticipated the whole time, “Are you the Messiah?”

And Jesus responded, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them everlasting life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

Now Jesus has done it...he has not only made claim that he truly is the Messiah, but also that he truly is God. This Messiah for which Israel is waiting for the new age to come to fruition is standing right in front of them...The Father has given his sheep over to the one who is one with the Father. It is revealed that the Messiah is one with God…that Jesus is consubstantial with the Father and yet that the one God is undivided!

And this Messiah brings in the new age identified in the Greek as “everlasting life”--the new age that is without end wherein the whole creation would be made new as proclaimed by Ezekiel!

But this new creation...the new age would come to fulfillment not by Jesus riding in with cavalries to command and conquer but by his laying down his very life and taking it back up again. It is through this act of self-giving love and none other that the fulfillment of Ezekiel 34 reaches its consummation! “For God will break the bars of their yoke and save them from the hands of those who enslaved them! When this happens, they will know that the LORD is their God and is with them and that they are His people....His sheep, the sheep of His pasture...

Oh, the people of God didn’t understand how strong those yokes were! Militaristic might cannot break the iron bars of the yoke of sin and death that has its tight grip around God’s flock! It has tried and failed time and time again! But the love of God has won our victory! The iron bars have been broken! The chains are gone! Our hearts are free! Its time to rise up and follow the risen one who has conquered by self-giving love! For the Lamb is the Shepherd and the Shepherd is the ever-slaughtered Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Alleluia! Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and upon us who are in the tombs has bestowed life! Alleluia! The bars of our yoke have been broken and we are saved from the hands of those who enslaved us: Sin, death, and the grave! Alleluia!

The Shepherd has arrived and his kingdom is non-violent...his kingdom exalts the lowly and casts down the high and mighty from their thrones! The Shepherd has arrived and he tells the truth! For his people know, now that the iron bars of their yoke has been broken, that He is their God and that they are His people...That they are His sheep, the sheep of His pasture, which is none other than the age to come, the new creation which knows no end!

And this kingdom will last! Because John, in Revelation, is granted a vision of our future and in that future it is not Judas Maccabees or anyone like him who takes center stage! No! At the center of the vision of fulfillment stands not Judas Maccabees or any other military war hero, but instead, the slaughtered Lamb who has won true victory...who has taught us that the most powerful force in the universe is the self-giving, self-sacrificial love of God in Jesus Christ! Listen as John reports what he sees when he gets a sneak peak into the future fulfillment:

“After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, singing, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and hone and power and might e to our God forever and ever! Amen!”
Then one of the elders addressed me saying, “Whoa re these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “Sir you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason they are before the throne of God and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. they will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

What a picture! The Slaughtered Lamb is the Noble/Model Shepherd for which the entire creation has been waiting! The way of the kingdom is the way of the Messiah who gave his life for His sheep and has taken it up again! Our way is love...our way is the cross! For He has called our name and we have followed him to the font where our robes were washed white in the Lamb’s self-giving blood! Now there is nothing, no nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, for we have been bathed in it and its fragrance remains upon us forever!

He has called us out of the world’s sheep pin and into the new creation, the life of the world to come! And even as we live in this age that is passing away, confronting it with the new and enduring way, and as a result experience hardship and persecution, let our eyes gaze past this age that will not endure to this vision of the throne where the Lamb at the center of everything shepherds his people, guiding us to the springs of the water of life and wiping away every tear from our eyes!

The Messiah has taken his throne! The New Creation has been inaugurated! Go and live the polity of the Kingdom to its fullest--the way of the cross, the self-giving love that has broken the iron bars of our prison once and for all, no matter the cost, for our Shepherd leads us!

Alleluia! Christ is risen from the dead! Trampling down death by death, and upon us who were in the tombs, bestowing life! Alleluia! Amen.

The Third Sunday in Easter

The Rev. Tommy Thompson

Acts 3:12-19, 1 John 3:1-7, Luke 24:36b-48

3rd Sunday in Easter

22 April 2012

“Resurrection: Creation’s Destiny”

These words I’m about to read, written by Joel Stein of the New York Times, were quoted on one of the insulating sleeves that goes on a Starbucks cup: “Heaven is totally overrated. It seems boring. Clouds, listening to people play the harp. It should be somewhere you can’t wait to go, like a luxury hotel. Maybe blue skies and soft music were enough to keep people in line in the 17th century, but Heaven has to step it up a bit. They're basically getting by because they only have to be better than Hell.”  

silence...let em sit with that for a bit...

Have you ever stopped to think about our future destiny?  Do you avoid the issue altogether so that, along with it, you might avoid the embarrassment of having to discuss things that seem so foreign?  

Just what is the Christian’s ultimate hope?  

For many years, many of us have sang songs that make a claim as to the what of Christian hope, like: “When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be...”  or “When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart...”  or “I’ll fly away oh glory, I’ll fly away...”  and yet another, “then he’ll call me some day to my home far away, where his glory forever I’ll share.”  

Do you hear the consistent theme of these songs?  They all make the claim that the future hope is heaven and that heaven is not here but somewhere far away.  They all seem to suggest that the future hope of Christians is to escape or fly away from the world wherein we live.

If we were to continue exploring literature and music about heaven, we’d be able to add other themes to the list as well.  Such as heaven is a place of disembodied spiritual bliss.  Disembodied because those who first thought up this kind of understanding believed that the body (or physicality for that matter) is bad but the soul, or spirit, is good.  Many believe the body is actually the prison of the soul or spirit and that death is good because death frees the soul from the body and allows the eternal soul to go to heaven from whence it came.  

Somewhere along the way, heaven also got located.  “Where is heaven?”, a child asks.  Pointing to the sky, the adult says, “Up there.”  Hence the association with clouds...and of course we cannot leave out the harps that come with the clouds.  

You know, I wonder if this is why there is so much confusion in the church concerning Easter.  I mean it just doesn’t make sense that Easter would be the most important and festive day and season of the year if the body/physicality/matter is the problem.  I mean if we are meant to escape the body and enter into spiritual bliss...if the body is simply the jail cell of the soul, then why celebrate its resurrection of which Jesus is the first-fruits...right?  

So we sing songs about a disembodied spiritual bliss that we call heaven, yet we confess in the Nicene Creed that “we look for the resurrection of the dead” and in the Apostles Creed, that we believe in “the resurrection of the body.”  

To confuse matters even more, when we read the New Testament, we hear that the Apostles’ main purpose was to proclaim/to witness to the reality that Jesus had risen bodily from the dead and re-appeared to his disciples, making them eye-witnesses of the new reality. The resurrection is all over the New Testament, as a matter of fact.  Not only is it all over the New Testament, but it was the topic of conversation in much religious debate in the first century Jewish world.  

If resurrection is what we confess in the creeds, which we had long before we had a bible, and that the hope of resurrection that we confess in the creeds is all over the place in the Bible, then where did this whole idea of disembodiment and escape come from?  

It came from the thought of various philosophies including the opponents of the author of the first letter of John who were quite persuasive concerning their gnostic ideas about the inherent evil of physicality/matter.  And that’s why John worked so hard to remind the early church that this kind of thinking is NOT in line with the Christian story of salvation.  The Christian narrative reveals that God created the heavens and the earth and that God saw it is very good.  If God has blessed physicality, why are you joining the gnostics in claiming that it is evil or that you would need to escape from it?  You might even reply, “Well originally, yes, physical creation and bodily existence was good...but then came sin...because of sin we need to escape the body.”  But the Bible doesn’t tell the story of how God gave up on creation in response to human sin.  Instead it tells the story of how God has been working toward the creation’s healing and restoration.  God has not and will not abandon his project of creation; instead he sent His Son Jesus Christ to redeem it from the evils of sin...to restore it...to beautify it...to fulfill it.  

 Thus, for the Second person of the Trinity to become human...to take upon himself our physicality...to live as one of us without sin...to give himself over to death and then overcome death through resurrection, is to redeem physicality--bodily existence-- and to inaugurate the new creation.  

You see, resurrection is everything. The Triune God has not given up on us or the physical creation he spoke into existence.  The resurrection of Jesus Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost is the proof of this reality!  We are not called to escape the world but to receive the world as God intended when he created us in his image and likeness and made us stewards of it.  

The bible names Jesus as “the first-born from the dead.”  It names his resurrection as the “first-fruits” of the new creation. Both of these phrases suggest that Jesus is not the last to rise from the dead the but the first.  “First-born” suggests that more siblings exist.  “First-fruits” suggests that more fruits are to come.  

Brothers and sisters, we are those siblings!  We are that fruit!  Christ has risen; therefore we too shall rise.  This is the Christian hope.  This is the hope of God’s world...not soul flight...not disembodied spiritual bliss up there somewhere....no, that is platonic philosophy at best and gnosticism at worse...Resurrection is Christian faith.  And that is why the author of 1 John tells the early church, “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed.  What we do know is this:  when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.” 

And how is Jesus revealed after His resurrection?  Not as a disembodied spirit flying in and through worlds unknown, but in a real, physical, redeemed body.  While different in some aspects from the physicality we experience this side of resurrection, in Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances during these forty days after his resurrection, Jesus is nonetheless physical and his post-resurrection life is lived in perfect continuity with his life before his resurrection -- the prints on his hands, feet and side as visible proof.    

Listen to what Jesus says to his disciples who don’t what to think about his resurrected body, “Why are frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?  Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is me -- it is really me!  Touch me and see.  For a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”  Touch me and see...feel the flesh and bones...God has raised Jesus from the dead.  Physicality has been redeemed.  And just in case seeing and touching isn’t enough, Jesus asked for some fish and he took it and ate it in their presence.   If he were not really human -- really physical, the fish would’ve just fallen to the ground.  But Jesus ate and enjoyed the fish  in His new body.  And that part blesses me so dearly...When Christ returns and the dead are raised, we still get to eat meat!  Alleluia!  

Do you get what Jesus is doing in these post-resurrection appearances to His doubting apostles?  He is making sure they understand what and who it is that they, as the church, are to witness to...and it is not to disembodied spiritual bliss.  No, it is to bodily resurrection...That physicality is redeemed...that sin’s curse has been reversed and the whole creation is being made new.  

What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him...

So let us sing songs of resurrection, because heaven is not the end of the story.  Let us sing songs of our ultimate destination -- the new creation that will know no end.  Let us proclaim to the Joel Stein’s of the world that there is something much brighter and much more exciting than even a luxury hotel in store for those who, in faith, become children of the resurrection!  

Because we’ve got more than clouds and harps to offer to the world!  Alleluia!  

Amen.

The 2nd Sunday in Easter

The Rev. Tommy Thompson
The 2nd Sunday in Easter
15 April 2012

Alleluia! Christ is risen!  The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!  We greet one another with these triumphant words throughout Eastertide. We begin our times of worship together every week during these fifty days of feasting with these words of hope, and joining the early Christians, we  are invited to greet one another with these words even as we bump into one another as we go through the mundane tasks of every day life.

But what does it mean?  What do you mean when you say, "The Lord is risen, indeed” or “In truth, He is risen?”  What are we really confessing when we say this?  If you haven't made sense of it all immediately, that’s okay...you're in good company...

On the first day of the week when Mary Magdelene went to the tomb and found that the stone had been removed, she didn't run to the other disciples and announce to them that the Lord had risen from the dead.  A rolled away stone hardly meant that Jesus was risen from the grave...rather, it likely meant that maybe someone had come and took the body away.  Mary was deeply saddened.  She ran and told the disciples that someone had taken away the body of Jesus...she did not immediately believe that Jesus was risen from the grave.

When the disciples arrived at the tomb, it is reported that one believed, but then it tells us that they did not yet understand the Scriptures that teach that Jesus rose from the dead...they returned to their homes perplexed at all that had taken place...they did not immediately believe or understand that Jesus was risen from the grave...

When the other disciples went home, Mary stayed behind...weeping...sad...imagine how you'd feel if someone you loved dearly had been buried and only a few days later someone took their body?  This is how Mary felt...she was already grieving because Jesus had died..but the thought that his body had been taken...oh how she must have felt...

Mary did not believe when she saw the stone rolled away; she did not believe when she encountered the two angels...and then Jesus appears...and she thinks he's the gardener...That's a lot to happen...but Mary still doesn't understand that Jesus has risen from the grave...

It was only when Jesus called Mary by her name that she recognized his voice...the voice of the Good Shepherd, whose sheep recognize his voice when he calls their name.  Mary still didn't have all the pieces put together...but she knew her Lord was standing before her...she had encountered him who was dead only a few days ago...something happened to Jesus that had not happened to anyone else...this takes time to understand...

The same day, that evening...The disciples were all gathered together and Jesus came into the room and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."  At this moment the Scripture does not tell us that the disciples all immediately believed that he was risen from the dead. It was only after the risen Lord showed the disciples the marks on his hands and his side that the text tells us, "The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord."

This is the trend in John's Gospel.  No one immediately understands and believes that Jesus has risen from the dead...resurrections just did not happen...and they especially didn't happen to just one person in the middle of history.  In the first century Jewish mind, the holy mystery of resurrection was the ultimate hope of most all Jewish believers; except the resurrection was something they believed would happen at the end of history and to all the people of God at the same time--not to one person in the middle of history.

Jesus’ resurrection upset the equilibrium. It wasn't something just anyone could figure out. There was no nice scientific formula that helped you understand what had happened and what it meant. God had done in Jesus what Israel thought he would do for all of Israel at the end of history and this was not immediately apparent to anyone!

Why, then, are we so hard on Thomas?  We call him "doubting Thomas."  And he gets this name simply because he wasn't with the other disciples when Jesus appeared to them and showed them his hands and his side.  It took them seeing the marks to believe and rejoice in Jesus standing before them.  Why should we expect anything more from Thomas?  St. Thomas is not the odd ball in John's Gospel or in any of the Gospels. St. Thomas is the typical disciple.  It takes time to understand and comprehend the breadth of what happened after Jesus was crucified and buried.  Resurrection is something that happened for the first time in Jesus.

So if any of us gathered here today are having a hard time understanding or trusting that Jesus rose from the grave, we are in good company...it’s okay.  God doesn’t think less of us!

Yet, at the same time, God is not satisfied with resurrection remaining a complete mystery. It will always be mystery, but it was meant for us to comprehend well enough that we might joyfully participate in the new reality it has opened. And that’s the point to these post resurrection appearances in John’s Gospel.  They do not exist to center upon the doubt of disciples such as Peter, James or Thomas.  Instead, they have been handed on to us to reveal God’s heart.  God desires that each and everyone would encounter the Son following his resurrection. Because it is the encounter with the Son of God that sparks faith...not stones rolled away, angels, bodies passing through locked doors, or anything else! Faith begins in the encounter with the risen one and that’s why the risen Lord appears to doubting disciples.

Just as God didn't leave Thomas to his own reason to figure it all out, so God does not abandon you in your confusion and doubt.  The same God who encountered Mary, Peter, Thomas, and the rest of the disciples following his resurrection seeks to have an encounter with you so that you may believe that Jesus is risen from the dead...And belief begets life...Those who encounter the risen Lord and finally see him for who he is, the symbols of his power made plain to us as we gaze upon those scars that made possible our redemption, are compelled to continue in the mission of Jesus Christ: we confront the powers of the world with the loving, self-giving power of God...The books of Acts happens all over again and again as disciples who were once timid. fearful and even cowardly begin to give bold testimony to the resurrection of Jesus to all and any who will have ears to hear.  And in that testimony, the risen Lord reveals himself again and again and the cycle of belief begetting life continues till he comes again.

The resurrection...it’s not the easiest pill to swallow.  It is something that cannot be reasoned...resurrection is only understood by those who have encountered the risen one...who have gazed upon the wounds that we ourselves have inflicted...who are seized by the love that endured those scars....and who tap into the very power that those scars represent...the power of love which overcomes sin, death, and the grave.

Today if you don’t yet “get it.” Don’t worry...you are in good company...God has time for you. Take comfort in Peter’s words to the church, “Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith--your salvation!”  Or better yet, Jesus’ words to Thomas. “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

Chrysostom's Paschal Homily

The Easter Homily of St. John Chrysostom

If any are devout and loves God,
Let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast!
If any be a wise servant,
Let her enter into the joy of our Lord with rejoicing! If any have labored long in fasting,
Let them now receive their recompense.
If any have worked from the first hour,
Let them today receive their just reward.
If any have come at the third hour,
Let them with thankfulness keep the feast.
If any have arrived at the sixth hour,
Let them have no misgivings;
Because he shall in nowise be deprived therefore.
If any have delayed until the ninth hour,
Let them draw near, fearing nothing.
And if any have tarried even until the eleventh hour,
Let her, also, be not alarmed at her tardiness.

For the Lord, who is jealous of his honor,
Will accept the last even as the first.
He gives rest to the one who comes at the eleventh hour,
Even as to him who has worked from the first hour.
And He shows mercy upon the last,
And cares for the first;
And to the one He gives,
And upon the other He bestows gifts.
And He accepts the deeds of both,
And welcomes the intention,
And honors the acts and praises the offering.
For this reason, let all of us enter into the joy of our Lord;
Receive your reward,
Both the first, and likewise the second.
You rich and poor together, hold high festival!
You sober and you reckless, honor the day!
Rejoice today, both you who have fasted
And you who have disregarded the fast.
The table is full-laden; let us all feast in extravagance!
The calf is fatted; let no one go away hungry!
Let us all enjoy this feast of faith!
Come and receive the riches of loving-kindness.

Let no one complain of his poverty,
 For the Kingdom of God, the new creation, has been revealed.
Let no one weep for his iniquities, 
For pardon has shown forth from the grave.
Let no one fear death,
For the Savior's death has set us free.
He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it.

By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive.
He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh.
And Isaiah, foretelling this, did cry:
Hell, said he, was embittered
When it encountered Thee in the lower regions.
It was embittered, for it was abolished.
It was embittered, for it was mocked.
It was embittered, for it was slain.
It was embittered, for it was overthrown.
It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains.
It took a body, and met God face to face.
It took earth, and encountered Heaven.
It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen.

O Death, where is thy sting?
O Hell, where is thy victory?

Christ is risen, O death, and you are overthrown!
Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen!
Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is risen, and life reigns!
Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave.
For Christ, being risen from the dead,
Is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
To Him be glory and dominion
Unto ages of ages.  Amen.

Good Friday 2012

The Rev. Tommy Thompson
Good Friday Year B
6 April 2012

“Why Did He Have to Suffer Like This!?”

This past Sunday, the Sunday of the Passion, I shared the story of an occurrence that I will never forget...It happened one Saturday in Barnes & Noble.  My wife Leslie was in her favorite section, thumbing through a few of her favorite authors, and I was in the Religion and Philosophy section, getting lost in a few of my own.  There were many people there that day...but there was one father and son who really caught my attention.  They walked right past me as I was sitting in the floor reading a book in the religion section.  The little boy saw an image on one of the covers that mesmerized him.  It was the icon of Jesus’ passion...it showed the crown of thorns that had been plated on Jesus’ head and did not hide the blood that flowed from his brow...Jesus’ face was the very definition of agony and sorrow.  It was not a pleasing picture, as it shouldn’t have been...it was very truth-telling...Jesus’ death as an experience of deep agony ... deep suffering.

The little boy saw the picture and stared for a moment and then looked at his dad and said, “Dad, what happened to that poor man?!”  His dad looked somewhat embarrassed because of how loud the boy had said it, and especially because of who he said it about...talking about Jesus in public is scandalous you know...his dad, under his breath, said, “that’s Jesus on the cross.”  The boy said, “Why did he have to suffer like that?  Why?! Tell me.”  The dad just kinda kept walking, picking up his pace, urging his son to keep walking with him...i mean the place was full of people...he didn’t want to get into all that right there in barnes and noble...its far too scandalous!  But the boy wouldn’t stop.  He repeated, “What did he do to deserve it?”  and then , “Dad, did they ever catch those people that did that horrible thing to him?”

On Sunday our focus was upon that brilliant question offered by one of those Jesus has told us to pay close attention to -- the little ones.  In an attempt to answer the boy’s question, we stood as if on the other side of the window and gazed through to see all the suspects in hopes that we would identify who was really responsible for the suffering and death of Jesus.  There were many suspects who were analyzed, but in the end, we were invited to stop looking through the glass....to stop identifying potential suspects, and instead turn and look into the mirror...and then, at that realization, we had to tell the little boy the truth -- he did it.  I did it. You did it. We did it.  We all are responsible for the death of the Son of God, and it is the most horrific crime ever committed.  As the hymn we opened with today said so poignantly, “I crucified Thee.”

Today our focus is on the other question the brilliant boy so daringly asked.  Why did he have to suffer?  Why did Jesus have to die?

There have been many attempts in answering this question.  There are many theories or metaphors out there that attempt to help us understand the suffering and death of Jesus and how it relates to our salvation.  And because of this, we must be very careful not to take one theory or metaphor too far. We must remember to take each metaphor for what it is...one metaphor alone cannot sufficiently answer the question, “Why did Jesus have to die?” ...

I think it best that we allow the metaphors or theories of atonement to co-exist side by side so as to attempt to tell the story as a whole. There are many ways the death of Jesus is portrayed, and all of the portrayals, together, reveal as much light as is needed for us to respond to God’s gracious initiative.  

And Hebrews is one of those portrayals that doesn’t leave many stones left unturned in it’s efforts to deal with questions such as the one the boy in Barnes & Noble asked that day.

In Hebrews, we get a holistic portrayal of the “why” of Jesus’ death and how his suffering and death relates to our salvation and the rest of the events of his life. One would be hard pressed to read Hebrews and still believe the only event in the life of Christ that matters is his death or not have that one metaphor he or she has held on to for so long be shaken and challenged.  Today, the author of Hebrews does what any response to this boy’s question HAS TO DO...Hebrews demonstrates the continuity that exists between Jesus pre-existence as Son of God, His incarnation, His life, His suffering, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension.  It is not simply Jesus death that has brought to us salvation...it is the whole story.  If we start and stop with the crucifixion, Jesus is nothing but another would-be victor of the Roman Empire who was revealed to be a criminal and a phony.  Our response to the boy, then, would be: Jesus was one of many who was crucified outside of town for claiming to be someone he wasn’t.

Jesus is truly God and fully human. To truly help the young boy know why Jesus had to die, we must begin here.  When the author of the Hebrews Epistle talks about the death of the Christ, he cannot cease to talk about the incarnation of the Son.  I think this is what draws me to this letter more than anything else.  Hebrews looks at the little boy and says, “He had to suffer this way and die because he loves you. Because He loves you so much, he came down and did not shun the virgin’s womb, but has identified with you in your human struggle fully and completely. In that struggle, he has opened to you the gates of everlasting life.”  I think that’s really a summation of what Hebrews is all about.

I love the way Hebrews 2:14-18 lays it out: “Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is , the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.  For it is clear that he did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham.  Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement of the sins of the people.  Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.”

We whose hosannas were the worst april fools joke of the day this past Sunday, who later on shouted crucify him, are the passion of the Son of God. As result of our sinfulness, God the Father looked on us not with anger or hatred but with love and compassion, in sympathy.  And he turned that sympathy into more than even empathy when he took upon Himself our human flesh to live our life to the fullest, yet without sin.  He took evil on head on -- for us.  He knew how bad evil had its grip on us...that’s why he went through with it from beginning to the end.  So that his sinlessness would overcome our sinfulness...so that love would overcome hatred....so that the everlasting life of God would overcome the everlasting death of human sin and unrighteousness!   That’s why Jesus chose to die...why God believed he had too...because that’ s just how strong God’s love is for us!

We are the guilty party, yes, and though it is the most horrible of crimes, it is not a bad thing for us to embrace the fact that we are all guilty.  Jesus died because that’s what evil does to those who don’t get with it’s program...  BUT, he died because in his death, he reveals to us the true power of God that God’s been trying to get into our thick skulls from the very beginning.  He dies because power is not what we thought it was.  And in his death true power is revealed...it is the only power that will last -- self-giving, other forgiving and receiving love.  Jesus has known this love since before the foundation of the world -- he is the exact imprint of the life of God, as Hebrews makes clear.  Now, love crucified reveals to us the very heart of God.  To embrace our guilt is to embrace the truth that he willingly submitted himself to our evil and twisted trial and persecution, the whole time in order to forgive us and restore us.  That’s real justice...the restorative justice of the Triune God!

On the cross, God is revealed most fully for who God is...and he ends up not being a mean God who demands retributive justice, but, instead, humility who offers grace upon grace, mercy upon mercy...who exclaims “forgive them for they know not what they do.”  God turns out to be the God of restorative grace...the God who makes what was old brand new...who reinvigorates and repurposes that which was decaying and lost.  

So on Good Friday, we are called to confess our sinfulness and our guiltiness.  Because in that confession and realization, we experience not retributive justice but restorative grace...the restorative justice of resurrection into the new creation opened to us by Jesus’ incarnation, life, death, resurrection, ascension and the pouring out of the Spirit on Pentecost.

That’s what our priest has done and is doing for us.  We who killed Jesus were the whole time His mission, His passion.  God the Father called/appointed Him to be our Great High Priest -- our representative.  Even though, or especially because, we didn’t know how to follow him, he offered the perfect sacrifice for our sins and the sins of the whole world -- his very life.  And that offering of love overcame sin and the sting of death once and for all.  I believe one of the oldest songs the church sings sums it up perfectly when it exclaims that Christ has trampled down death by death and upon those in the tombs has bestowed life.

As we live now, in the time between Christ’s resurrection and everyone else's, we, like the original hearers of the Hebrews Epistle, will be tested in every way because of this confession in Jesus Christ--the source of our salvation.  The response we’ve offered to the little boy through Hebrews will get you in trouble in this world that still holds on to it’s power which is really weakness and it’s wisdom which is really foolishness.  The first readers of Hebrews were being disowned by family, beaten, kicked out of the places of worship they knew their whole life and even killed because of this very confession & response.

And sisters and brothers, when we let the crucified One be the center of our life together, the age that is passing away will treat us as it did Jesus and his early followers.  When, not if, this happens, we are invited to remember and live in the whole life of Jesus summed up in this amazing invitation:

“Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every way has been tested/temped as we are, yet without sin.  Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

That invitation is enough until Christ comes again.  Amen.