Truth is Love

1 John 1:1-2:2

This world is dominated by death.  It is evident in how plants turn to the sunlight, sometimes crowding out others.  It is evident in the speed of rabbits and the speed of foxes.  Humans are not as cut and dry.  It is not the smartest or strongest that inherently succeeds, for socialization adds more nuances to how we are affected by the shadow, the darkness, of death.  It is not all bad, as it is why we generally stop at stop signs, but it plays out through rivalry and violence, both physical and emotional.  This is done both via individuals and groups. It is the darkness.

God has no darkness at all.  Jesus went to the cross not because of death but because of the light; life not the opposite of death, but life of God totally other than life and death.  As the writer of Hebrews shares:

looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. (12:2)

It was not that he knew he would be raised, it was because of the Divine Light; life that knows no death.  Even our early martyrs would be kidding themselves if their death was not in part motivated by pride.  As those that bowed to Caesar and hid the church, were scared of death, the martyrs too were motivated by the darkness in part (just as those that kept the church going in secret were motivated in keeping the knowledge of the Light alive).  It is impossible for humans to completely leave the shadow and darkness of earthly death, yet we are called to bring the light forward. 

Light that does not require violence, for God does not require the sacrifice.  It is humans that do.  The Old Testament seems to have God wanting sacrifices, but truly it is actually the people who do.  Take Genesis 22 when Abraham is to sacrifice is only legitimate son.  God provides the ram instead.  The sacrifices are the people's ritualized way to demonstrate love to the God that saved them and provides everything for them.  Thus in Jerusalem God provides His only Son as the sacrifice  to our violence.  God only has love, so much so He gives Jesus.

This act on the cross is what creates the eighth day.  That is it finishes creation.  If we think of creation as only the beginning of time, we ignore the scriptures that say Jesus was there in the beginning.  This Christian idea of Jesus being part of creation is why Creation is completed at the resurrection, opening up the Light of the world so we know about this Light without any darkness that has taken away the sting of death.  We are still affected by the darkness but we have a way to follow to avoid rivalry, war, violence, and all the darkness, for we know of the greatest love of all, that God gave his only son into our darkness to give us light and salvation.

 

 

 

 

*Note this sermon was a review for the congregation of themes I was working on.  It was an attempt to weave together God as Ultimate Other, Love, atonement and creation.  Must admit it was preached better than written. 

Forgiveness Blooms

Mark 16:1-8

Here in the original ending of Mark we see the women going to anoint Jesus’ body. This is part of life; death.  It is known that all living things die.  It hangs over all of us and its reality is important to how we live on earth.  Call it survival if you want, call it thriving, but death shapes how we live. 

Fear is an important theme in this passage, but it was not fear of the dead body or of death.  I am always struck at how fearful some people are to be with a dead body, but these women were going to do the things we have professionals do today.  They were going to handle the body to pay deepest respects to the one lost.  No the fear was that Jesus was not there.

It is in this fear that Christian hope begins.  Remember Sarah laughs when she is told she will bear a child.  Yes because it is funny, but out of fear of this great possibility that can only happen because of the Divine.  The empty tomb is much more radical and hence the running in fear, not just nervous laughter.

God is the only true other.  What I mean is that because of death being part of life on earth, we are all in the same boat, or globe, what have you.  God is however beyond this as the creator.  I remember learning about Creation ex nihilo, in seminary, and questioning it like any good seminarian, for in the first verses of Genesis, there is reference to the deep, to chaos, as if something existed before creation.  Well I was studying with Dr. Rev. Joe Jones in a study group (a great theologian of the Christian Church), and he made it clear it was less about the existence of matter before creation, but that creation was not made of God’s own self.  That is nothing God created is Divine, we may see something or experience something and say “Wow that is Divine,” however I believe we are pointing to the great Divine with that experience.  God created, to have relationship with, not to simply be an extension of God.  This is however, not to support the gnostic idea that all earthly and physical is inherently evil.  I remember that God said it was Good when it was created, but it is not God.  It is physical and that with life does die.

Thus the fear of the women was the realization that God is truly the only other.  We are all invited to the wedding banquet, as the parable Jesus tells in Mathew 22.  We are all invited and we wear our wedding robe (of course the people on the street did not really have their special robe with them), but when the one not wearing a robe asked he was without word.  He did not understand, he would have stood at the empty tomb and thought “I wonder who took the body?”  He would question the angel and may had experienced fear, but not the fear that sent the women running.

Their fear was that the resurrection did happen.  It meant they would have to deal with their doubt, their sin, their shortcomings to the one that is coming with a winnowing fork.  The one that would separate the chaff from the grain with the help of the Holy Spirit.  To accept you were that loved that Jesus would go to the cross and to face him, is wear the fear comes from, and the hope begins. 

Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me. Revelation 3:20

Hope stirs when we realize Jesus does not avenge, but witnesses as the ultimate other.  The one that knows the truth is that forgiveness blooms on earth as it is in heaven. For when Jesus comes through the locked door He says, “Peace be with you.”

April 2012 Newsletter

 

Easter is a time to celebrate life. The tomb is empty demonstrating to humanity that death is conquered by the divine love of God. Jesus was hung on the tree because of the earthly violence that permeates life on earth. Most sin comes from the breaking of the greatest commandment as Jesus sums it up,

He said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22: 37-40)

It is a call against coveting, a call to follow a different model of desire. Earthly desires are tied to the desires of others, and thus jealousy, hatred, rivalry, etc. become the basis of most sin. The perfect and completely sinless Jesus is murdered and demonstrates not only God’s power over death, but the reaction of love and forgiveness by God. The empty tomb turns the earthly world inside out and upside down.

Jesus does not simply mean for us to wait for Heaven, but to bring the Heavenly model to earth as he did. Our desires are to be in line with that of His. As John shares in his Gospel, Jesus demonstrates that model with the washing of the disciple’s feet. Jesus even clearly states he has set this as our example:

You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. (John 13: 13-15)

Let us go forward in the season of Easter, following this model of Heaven. As His Disciples we are all servants of each other and the world. We are called out of the world together to share this wonderful good news, this wonderful example of Heaven on Earth.

Blessings,

Pastor J.C.