dying
First We All Die
By Linda Rex
February 23, 2025, 7th Sunday in Epiphany—I was sitting at a table the other day, and we were talking about the one reality we all face at some point in our lives—death. Its seems that no matter where we are in life, we have to come to grips with the truth that physical death is currently part of our human condition.
The good news is that Jesus Christ entered into death, bringing it into a new place. In Christ, we find that death is not an end or a terror, but rather, a necessary step to the fullness of our eternal life. In the New Testament passage for this Sunday, 1 Corinthians 15:35–38, 42–50, the apostle Paul uses the concept of putting a seed such as a piece of grain in the ground, to picture our death.
What is interesting about putting a seed in the ground is that the planted seed ceases to be itself. In one sense, it dies, though in reality it simply begins to change. In that seed is all the information that is needed for the formation of an entire new plant. The seed could contain what is needed to grow a giant sequoia tree, or simply a stalk of wheat. In any case, what goes in the ground does not really resemble what eventually will grow from it. And what is produced through this small seed is often even more seed, such as the several cobs of corn produced on one cornstalk, grown from a single kernel of corn.
The thing most of us resist is the idea of dying. This is because we are created for life—to live. The tree in the garden of Eden the first humans were encouraged to eat from was the tree of life. God’s heart for each of us is that we choose life. He wants us to live—and to live in right relationship with him and one another. But often our attempts to choose life end up leading us down the road into death. Our ways of living our lives may make sense to us, but they often lead to spiritual death, death of relationships, and death to our blessings and joy.
This is why Jesus came—in order to bring to an end the control death has over us. As God in human flesh, Jesus lived a truly human life, even to the point of dying our death. Jesus entered into the realm of the dead, ransacking that place, and bringing us all up into new life. When God tells us to choose life, he does so by coming in his Son Jesus Christ and decidedly making that choice in our place and on our behalf. Jesus goes first, enables us to follow, and by the Spirit, we can now choose life as we should. Instead of choosing to live according to our human ways of doing things, we are given Jesus’ heart and mind by the Spirit, and we are able to live and walk in Christ, rather than in our human ways which eventually lead to death.
One of the hardest journeys for any of us is the journey of dying to self. There is a death we must die in this world and it is a death of self-will and self-centeredness. This is what Jesus meant when he said that his followers are to deny themselves, pick up their crosses, and follow him (Matt. 16:24). Our stubborn willfulness and insistence upon independence from God takes us down the path to death, specifically spiritual death. God does not want this for us. He created us for life—life in relationship with him and one another, life in self-giving sacrificial love. But the only way to get to this place of life is through death—the dying of self. And this does not come naturally. It is a gift of the Spirit.
In our culture today, life in the Spirit as we follow Jesus is not necessarily considered healthy or realistic. When we read the New Testament passage, Luke 6:27–38, we hear Jesus preaching a way of life that is truly countercultural and difficult. In order to live it out, one would need to die many deaths day by day as they sought to follow Jesus in this way. But Jesus himself said that he came to bring life, life in abundance (John 10:10). Jesus’ call to life brings with it a need to die to all that does not agree with the truth of who we are in him. Jesus defines who we are now, and we find our true life in him. We are challenged to embrace our death in this way, and to find our new life in him.
Here we find in more than one way that death is really not something for us to fear. We need not fear dying to self, for Jesus has already made the path straight for us, given us his Spirit, and he stands ready to intercede for us in each moment, enabling us to leave behind old ways and embrace new ways. And when we face our actual physical death, we find there is nothing to fear, for Jesus stands in our place on our behalf, interceding for us even in that place of death. Death is a new adventure for us now, a hopeful place in which a new life begins and lasts on into eternity. And we can embrace our physical death when it comes, as simply the first step on a new journey.
Thank you, Father, for giving us new life in your Son. Thank you, Jesus, for caring for us and for meeting us in the depths of our darkness to bring us into your life. Help us by your Spirit to live in the truth of who we are in you, for we share in your death and in your resurrection. Amen.
“But someone will say, ‘How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?’ You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own. … So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So also it is written, ‘The first “man”, Adam, “became a living soul.” ’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly. Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” 1 Corinthians 15:35–38, 42–50 NASB
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The Pearls We Are
By Linda Rex
June 2, 2024, Proper 4 | After Pentecost—In the New Testament passage for this Sunday, 2 Corinthians 4:5–12, the apostle Paul shows how God the Light-Giver, is the One who shone in our hearts, enabling us to see God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ. It is Christ in us by the Spirit, who enables us to live despite the death we constantly experience day by day as those who serve Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul inevitably experienced some sort of suffering or death for the sake of the gospel. But it was amid this and through this that the life of Jesus was made manifest to those around him. Indeed, as Jesus taught us, when we die to ourselves, to the things of our flesh, that is when we truly live. It is when we are broken as followers of Christ and are living in union and communion with our Triune God, that the light of God shines most brightly in and through us.
Paul describes the indwelling presence of God through Jesus by the Spirit as “treasure in earthen vessels” (NASB) or “treasure in jars of clay” (NIV, ESV) or “treasure in earthen vessels” (NKJV). These translators used a picture of a treasure being placed in a clay pot or earthen vessel which was fragile and could be easily broken. Word Studies in the New Testament points us to the story in Judges 7, where one night, Gideon took his army out against a massive Midianite army. Gideon’s army had been reduced by God down to only three hundred men, and they were facing an army which the writer of Judges described as numerous as locusts, without number.
According to this story, at the critical moment, they surrounded their camp on all sides. Note—there were only three hundred men who had clay pitchers with torches in one hand and a sword in the other. When signaled, these soldiers broke their clay pitchers, allowing the light to shine through, and they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” As the story goes, the enemy was put into disarray and the enemy soldiers turned against one another, so that in the end, they destroyed themselves. Gideon’s army needed only pick off the stragglers. As you can see in this story, the broken vessels provided the light by which the enemy was defeated, even without Gideon’s army needing to raise their swords in battle.
There is something powerful about light penetrating a dark space. Indeed, it can be almost blinding when breaking in unexpectedly. God has poured out his Spirit, inviting us to open ourselves up to his indwelling presence, allowing the bright light of his divine presence to penetrate the inner darkness of our false selves, to illuminate us with the reality of our true selves, hidden with Christ in God. The Spirit’s presence and power at work in and through our broken, flawed human flesh is a beautiful reflection of God’s glory revealed in Jesus Christ. When we allow this light to shine into us and out through us, Jesus Christ becomes manifest to those around us. The darkness of this world is penetrated by the light of Jesus through us as broken, fragile vessels in whom the Spirit dwells.
The Mirror Bible gives another nuance to this picture. Where the other translations focus on vessels or jars of clay, the Mirror Bible indicates this particular Greek word ostrakinos has its root in the word ostracon, meaning “oyster”. In other words, the original Greek gives the sense of treasure in a shell or oyster, which gives us an entirely different picture to consider. When an oyster has a piece of sand or sediment enter its shell, it can be destructive or damaging to the creature. But it slowly wraps the errant item in a special substance, and over time, the oyster forms it into a glorious pearl. What is meant for death becomes a new creation, one that is beautiful and of great value.
As human beings, we often avoid pain, suffering, and seek to avoid death at all costs. We especially do our best to avoid dying to our sin, our self, and our own will. But Paul uses these pictures to show us that God is always at work in and through us by his Spirit. What is meant for our death and destruction God redeems and transforms into that which is glorious and beautiful and which will last forever. It’s all in realizing and receiving the magnificent gift God has given us in Christ and his heavenly Spirit. When we daily allow God to wrap up our death to self and dying to sin and self-will in the life of his Son by the Spirit, we become a light to the world around us, a gift as precious as a pearl to those whom God draws himself through Christ in the Spirit. This gives a whole new direction and meaning to our daily “deaths” we must die for Christ’s sake. For suddenly, we as broken, fragile humans, find ourselves as valuable and treasured participants in God’s redeeming work as he restores, renews, and transforms his world. And all we can do is give thanks.
Dear Father, Jesus, Spirit, thank you for including us in what you are doing in this world. Grant us the grace to die each day to self that you may live more fully in and through us, for the sake of others. Enable us to glow brightly with the glory of Christ our Lord, that your light may more fully penetrate and illumine this darkened world, through Jesus and by your Spirit. Amen.
“For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you.” 2 Corinthians 4:5–12 NASB
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In the Dying We Live
By Linda Rex
March 17, 2024, 5th Sunday in Preparation for Easter or Lent—When I was growing up, one of my favorite places to visit in the backyard was the avocado tree. Each summer the sun was blazing hot, and its big limbs and large leaves provided a shady place to play. When the tree was laden with avocados, we delighted in eating the fruit with a spoon like a special treat.
Because of this happy memory, a few years ago I took the pit of an avocado I got at the supermarket, and put it into a small glass of water. When it finally sprouted, I planted the little seeding in a small pot. Since then, the spindling tree has grown to be about three feet tall, bearing leaves about the size of the sole of a shoe. The original seed became part of the root of the tree, and soon there was little evidence of the avocado seed the tree had come from.
In the New Testament reading for this Sunday, Hebrews 5:5–10, the writer points out that the Son of God isn’t the one who decided to be our high priest, but he was chosen by the Father for this task. As the Son of God in human flesh, Jesus Christ experienced suffering, but through prayers and supplications, trusted that his heavenly Father would deliver him. Having been perfected in his trust and dependency upon his heavenly Father in the midst of acute suffering and death, Jesus became the source of eternal salvation for us, serving as our high priest. Elsewhere in the book of Hebrews, we read how Jesus, because of all he went through, is the perfect high priest for us now, interceding on our behalf, offering our prayers and supplications as well as our worship to the Father, and receiving from the Father and giving to us all that he desires for us to have.
The process of coming to be our high priest through suffering and death is what Jesus describes in the gospel reading for this Sunday, John 12:20–33. Jesus clearly saw his upcoming crucifixion and death, and knew what he was facing. He described it to his listeners as being like when a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies. The process of dying, for a grain of wheat, isn’t really a death so much as it is a radical transformation. The grain of wheat ceases to exist in its present form—in effect, it dies. But it is still very much alive, though, beginning to take another form as it puts down roots into the soil and the sprout pushes up out of the ground, reaching into the sunny sky.
If the grain of wheat were to lay in the ground and never make this change, it would be because there was no life in it. The grain of wheat would simply rot away and become part of the soil in which it was placed. But when it come to Jesus, in his crucifixion and death, there was every reason to expect that what came up out of the soil was going to be new life. The One who was buried in the tomb was the Son of God in human flesh. Even though the human body died, this was not the end. Out of the tomb arose Jesus in glorified human flesh, ascending to his heavenly Father, to serve as the high priest on our behalf—the One who is uniquely equipped by his suffering and death to intercede for us, to advocate for us, and to help us.
The process of growing and developing, whether for trees or for people, involves both positive and negative aspects. To gain strength and durability, a person, or a tree for that matter, must experience challenges, opposition, or suffering. The negative aspects of one’s existence, when given to God and borne in union and communion with God in Christ, can actually become the means by which God strengthens us, grows us up into Christ, and forms his likeness in us.
One of the things our culture today doesn’t seem to embrace well is the idea of suffering, difficulty and struggle. To feel pain or loss is often seen as something to avoid, rather than being seen as something that, when embraced and accepted and learned from, may actually be a means by which we may grow and become more like the humans God always intended us to be. Yes, it’s probably good to avoid or ease pain and loss when it occurs, but it is also good to ask the Lord what it is we are needing to learn in the process of dealing with it. Perhaps we may even ask the Lord, as Jesus did with tears and supplications, for God to remove the ordeal from our lives. Indeed, Jesus pleaded with his Father to that end. But ultimately, the true solution was and is in Jesus’ surrender and submission to the will of his Father. As Catherine Marshall likes to say, this is the one prayer which is always answered: “Not my will, Father, but your will be done.”
It is in this place of dying, of surrendering our will and our control of the situation into the hands of our loving Father, that we find our true life. Indeed, it is in this place of dying that we begin to rise into new life. Our true life is not in what is right before us, but in the person of Jesus Christ—in our union and communion with our Father, through Jesus, in his Spirit. It is in this place, as we go through the challenges of this life that we discover eternal life, now and forever.
Our heavenly Father, sometimes life can be really hard, painful, and frustrating. It is difficult for us to understand why you allow things to be the way they are, especially when we have to experience pain and loss. Grant us the grace to, in all honesty and authenticity, pour out our hearts to you, but to also yield to your perfect love and grace in submission to your will, through Jesus our Lord and by your Spirit. Amen.
“So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him, ‘You are my son, today I have begotten you’; just as He says also in another passage, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’ In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 5:5–10 NASB
“… And Jesus answered them, saying, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, “Father, save Me from this hour”? But for this purpose I came to this hour. …. Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.’ But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die.” John 12:20–33 NASB
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The Comfort of Our Hope
By Linda Rex
November 12, 2023, Proper 27 | After Pentecost—Today as I write this blog, my neighbors and friends are celebrating All Hallow’s Eve (Halloween). Here in America, this celebration has become a big deal, and is promoted vigorously by stores and other commercial enterprises, who sell anything from costumes, to food products, and of course, a wide variety of Halloween candy and toys.
Personally, I believe we do not want to celebrate or venerate evil or death. But we do want to be realistic about our human condition, which involves death and dying. In my life, lately, I have had to grieve multiple losses, and some of those losses have involved losing dear ones to death. Death is an evil that has been allowed into our human existence, and is something everyone of us has to face at some point. For some of us, death is something we’d rather not talk about or face. For others of us, it is something we have had to deal with more than once, and is a normal part of our existence.
When the apostle Paul wrote to the members at Thessalonica, he was answering questions about what happens to people when they die. In 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18, Paul wrote that he did not want the believers to be ignorant of what happens to people who are dead, whether spiritually or physically. He did not want the believers to feel hopeless or face death without some sense of comfort. So he reminded them of the central foundation stone of their faith—the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Using the euphemism of sleep, Paul showed that death was no longer their master. Because Jesus Christ took on our human flesh and died the death we all will one day die, death became something new. Jesus went into death and out the other side into new life, bringing our human flesh with him into a place of eternal life in face-to-face union with his Father in the Spirit. Death, then, is powerless in the face of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Death has lost its sting. It has no hold on us.
We find hope in the reality that all of humanity has died in Jesus and risen in Jesus. Because of this, as Jesus says in John 5:28b-29, “an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.” Because of Jesus, there will be a resurrection of every person.
What happens then will be determined by Jesus, for he has born all our sins and is offering to every person eternal life—knowing and being known by him and his Father, in the Spirit (Jn. 17:3). The writer of Hebrews says, “And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” (Heb 9:27-28 NRSV). Jesus has already dealt with sin through his death and resurrection. Now he is drawing all men to himself.
As we trust in Jesus, in the reality of our inclusion in his death and resurrection, we participate in his own face-to-face relationship with his Father in the Spirit. This means we begin, by faith, to experience eternal life in the Spirit even now, as a foretaste of what we will experience for all eternity. This union and communion with God through Jesus in the Spirit which we participate in even now by faith in Christ is what we will live in for all eternity—this is a gift. It cannot be earned.
And as a gift, our participation in Christ’s own relationship with his Father in the Spirit, is not automatic. As Paul explains in 2 Cor. 5:18-21, God has reconciled every person to himself in Jesus Christ, therefore each of us needs to, by faith in Christ, be reconciled to God. It is a relationship which requires participation by both sides. God has done all that is needed on his side. Now we embrace the gift given to us in Jesus and begin living it out by faith, participating in the reality of all he has done for us in his life, death, resurrection and ascension, and in the gift of the Spirit.
We stand with open hands, receiving this incredible gift given so freely, and begin living in the truth of it. And we live in the truth of that life now and on into eternity in Christ. Death has, indeed, lost its sting (1 Cor. 15:55). Death has no power over us any longer. In Christ, we have hope, and this is our comfort when faced with death and dying.
Heavenly Father, thank you for delivering us from death through your Son Jesus. Thank you that by your Spirit, we can live in the truth even now of the eternal life in face-to-face relationship with you offered to us through Jesus’ death and resurrection. We receive, by faith, your gracious gift and ask for the grace to live in the truth of who you have declared us to be—your very own beloved adopted children, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 NRSV
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Astonished by Grace
By Linda Rex
April 4, 2021, RESURRECTION SUNDAY | EASTER—We’ve been going through a long season of challenges. In the midst of this pandemic, economic and political struggles, we have been faced with a variety of deaths, big and small. Many of us have had to deal with these personally, while others of us have shared in the corporate experience of loss and difficulty.
What I am reminded of as we come to this special day on the Christian calendar is how so often we are like the women as they approached the tomb on Sunday morning. We are spent emotionally from all the pain and suffering we have experienced. All we can think about is that every dream, every possibility, every hope is gone. We have no idea how we can move on from where we are right now. And so, we do the one thing know we can do—we express our devotion and sorrow for what is gone and departed, and anxiously wonder how we’re going to go on.
It seems that no matter how often Jesus talked about dying and rising again the third day that his followers acted as if it would not happen. Christ taught them he would be resurrected, but here we see the ladies are going to the tomb carrying spices to anoint Jesus’ body and are worried about how they are going to move the heavy rock from in front of the tomb. Apparently, they were not aware that Roman guards had been set about and the tomb had been sealed—this would have created even more difficulty. In any case, the way they approached the tomb indicated they were certain Jesus was dead and decaying, never to rise again.
The message they needed is the same message we need today. We need to be reminded that Jesus is risen. He is still our crucified but risen Lord even today. His body didn’t simply rot away and return to the earth—it was transformed. Jesus Christ rose, bodily, from the grave. By the power of the Triune God, Jesus walked away from the tomb glorified, prepared to return to the right hand of the Father in heaven.
The apostle Peter explains in Acts 10:34–43 how he and others who were chosen beforehand to be witnesses to this great event saw Jesus after the crucifixion. Peter had personally experienced this dramatic reversal in a unique way. He had denied Jesus three times during his trial, with the Savior looking right at him at the instant of his final denial. The disciple keenly felt deep gratitude for the grace of Christ expressed to him around the campfire following the resurrection. The risen Jesus had valued his relationship with Peter, enough to restore their fellowship, offering his disciple his forgiveness and commissioning him to care for God’s people.
In 1 Corinthians 15:1–11 the apostle Paul tells how many witnesses saw Jesus after his resurrection. There was even a group of five hundred people who saw him. The book of Acts tells how he appeared to many people, guiding them as the early church began to grow and expand. Appearing to Paul, Jesus turned him completely around, moving him from being a persecutor of believers to a faithful defender of the faith.
What does this mean for us today? The evidence of the Scriptures as well as the testimony of witnesses then and throughout the ages is that Jesus Christ is risen. His resurrection wasn’t just a one-time event, but is an endless one, as Jesus is eternal in the heavens as the crucified, risen Lord. He bears our human flesh in the presence of the Father in the Spirit now and forever. He is a living Lord, active in our world today by the Holy Spirit. He is ever-living, at work in this world, restoring fellowship between all humanity and the Father in the Spirit.
Today as we celebrate the resurrection, it may be helpful for us to pause for a moment to reflect on how we are approaching the things we are facing in our lives. I have been wrestling with a situation where I know change needs to be made but I don’t find within myself the capacity to make it. From a human point of view, it seems as though I am in the same place as the women approaching the tomb. I grieve over the loss and the struggle. I despair over my inability to change anything in the situation. And I wonder how I will ever bear having to go on and on with things being the way they are.
As I look at these passages for this Resurrection Sunday, I see that they repeat this one message that I need to hear: “He is risen!” How do I begin to look at this situation and my circumstances through the lens: I have a risen Lord? Seeing everything from this viewpoint changes how I face the world and what is going on in my life and my relationships. If Christ is a living Lord who has sent his Spirit, then there is every hope that this is not the end—only the beginning!
What new thing can Jesus do in me and my life by his Holy Spirit? What can he do in you and in your life and circumstances by his Holy Spirit? What can he—will he do—in this world? All of a sudden, we find ourselves not in a dead end, but in a place of infinite possibilities!
Where in your life do you see place where you believe you have come to the end? Is it time to let someone or something go? What is God wanting to give you in its place? And is it simply possible that God wants to offer you a new beginning—to bring you to an entirely new place where his new life may be more fully expressed in and through you?
Whatever you may be facing, be encouraged. God has, in Christ, given us the grace to share his good news with others, to live in a difficult world, and to love him and one another the way we were created to. Our risen Lord is alive and active in this world, leading us into new paths and new directions, enabling us to share the good news with all those around us. Everyone needs to know and believe what we have only begun to experience in our own lives, that Jesus is risen. Let’s not allow fear to get in the way of telling others about Christ, but be assured that our risen Lord goes first, providing all we need in every situation to follow him wherever he leads.
Dear God, thank you for this marvelous thing you’ve done and are doing, giving us your Son to save us. Thank you, Jesus, for going all the way to the cross and into death, rising again so we could be included in your life with the Father in the Spirit. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for being so active in this world and in our lives. Finish what you have begun in us. Remind us anew that Jesus is our crucified but risen Lord, that we may give him glory and praise, now and forever. Amen.
“When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might come and anoint Him. Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. They were saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?’ Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large. Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed. And he said to them, ‘Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter, “He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.” ’ They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” Mark 16:1–8 NASB
“… and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” 1 Corinthians 15:8-10 NASB
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Keeping Vigil in Illness and Death
By Linda Rex
April 11, 2020, HOLY SATURDAY, HOLY WEEK—Looking at the graphic on the cdc.org website each day, I am moved by the way the numbers have climbed in the past couple days of those infected with COVID-19. The number of fatalities have increased as well, and it pains me to accept the reality this isn’t going to get much better for some time. It is challenging to keep these numbers in perspective, remembering that substantial numbers of people also died during the same time due to other more mundane causes such as cancer, car accidents, drug overdose, suicide, and sadly, abortion.
In many ways, our observation of what is happening with this pandemic is like the picture described by the gospel writers as Jesus hung on the cross, breathed his last agonized breath, died, and was placed in a tomb. Gathered within eyesight of the cross were several of his followers, whose lives were being totally disrupted by the loss of their rabbi and friend. His disciples handled his crucifixion in different ways—some were not even present in his last moments. One had been his betrayer. But there were those who stayed and kept vigil with him.
Think of Mary standing there, who so many years before had uttered the simple words, “Let it be to me as you wish” and her life became a living sacrifice in service of the soon to be birthed Savior. She raised this child to manhood, relinquished him to his heavenly Father’s service, and traveled with him at times, supporting him in his ministry.
She stood there at the cross, watching the unthinkable happen to her son, maybe even in that moment finally recalling the prophetic words of Simeon, “a sword will pierce even your own soul.” Bound to Jesus with cords of love, she was comforted by his final wish, that John would care for her in her final days. This simple concern for her wellbeing while he was dying on the cross demonstrated a deep love and concern for Mary. How could she help but lament the loss of such a son?
The women not only watched Jesus as he breathed his final breath, but then followed Joseph of Arimethea and Nicodemus to the tomb. There the women sat across from the tomb as the men prepared Jesus’ body for burial. There was an urgent need to get it done before the sabbath began at sundown. When the men were finished, they pushed a stone across the front of the tomb. There Jesus laid, hidden from view, observed from a distance by the brokenhearted women who were his followers.
Lament is a healthy response to suffering and death. Dismay and concern are common feelings which rise out of one’s heart and mind—we lament the loss of all that is good, meaningful, treasured. We grieve the loss of what we cherish, the ending of those moments of connection, the changes in our everyday occurrences which are now forever altered. As we lament, we consider the ramifications of what just occurred or is occurring—our lives will be forever altered because of this moment, this unbearable change.
Some of us never allow ourselves to slow down long enough to even contemplate our losses, much less grieve them. To lament means taking the time to sit by the tomb and observe what is taking place, the reality of death and dying. It means allowing ourselves to feel our feelings and to accept that if or when that person dies, our world will never be the same ever again.
At first glance, death and dying are horrible bedfellows. Our natural response to death is to either fear it, resist it, or deny it. Or, possibly for some people, death can become so common in certain situations that we begin overlook it, becoming desensitized to the pain and suffering which go with it. Either way, we need to face death head on, keeping vigil with God at the tomb as what only he can do is accomplished—we need to rest in the tomb with Jesus, allowing him to be who he is as our Lord and Savior, in his death.
Going back to our story—the women watched the tomb, but could not open it. They were going to need help to get the stone moved so they could tend to Jesus’ body and use the ointments and spices would prepare. On the next day, the sabbath and holy day, the Jewish leaders went to Pilate and asked that the tomb be sealed shut and a guard be set over it. These leaders were so afraid that Jesus’ promise to rise from the grave would happen they had to find a way to prove it did not happen. The tomb was sealed shut and the guards posted.
But the vigil of the guards was much different than the vigil of the women. The women watched in sorrow, taking note of where Jesus was buried, hoping to tend to his body after the sabbath in addition to what Joseph and Nicodemus had already done. In time they went home to put together spices and ointments to bring back later.
Meanwhile, Roman soldiers were put in place by the Jewish leaders. The guards kept watch, protecting the tomb from tampering. They were indifferent to who was in the tomb and what might be going on inside the tomb. All they cared about was watching for anyone outside the tomb violating the seal.
In the same way today, our vigil in the midst of the pandemic can be focused on all of the externals, on all the possible violations of the rules, or on all of the bad outcomes that might occur due to COVID-19 and all the other scary stuff happening in the world right now. Or our focus can be on the One who is in the tomb and the hope which in ours in the midst of all this because he, for a time, laid in the grave just as each of us will one day.
Keeping vigil with Jesus as he hung on the cross and laid in the grave is a sobering reminder that there are parts of our broken humanity which needed to be crucified and to die—we all have places where we deny our personhood as image-bearers of our God. Our focus must be, not on all our failures to love, the tragedies of this world, and the suffering of our humanity, but on the One who lived our life and died our death. He is the one who carried our humanity into the grave and reformed it, as a caterpillar in a cocoon is metamorphosized into a beautiful butterfly.
Jesus had become a curse for us, had become sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. What was happening in the tomb that Saturday involved each and every human being on earth—death itself was being invaded by Jesus and robbed of its power. No longer need death cause fear, dread and sorrow—we now can have hope. The morning would bring proof that there is nothing in this world that can separate us from God’s love—not even death on a cross. There is life beyond the grave. By faith, death becomes merely a door into an eternity in the presence of our loving God, with whom we will dwell in glory forever.
Thank you, Abba, for rescuing us from the jaws of death. Thank you, Jesus, for penetrating the gates of hell itself for our sake, so we could be once and for all free from the fear of death. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for all the ways you comfort us, heal us, and make real in us the finished work of Christ. Grant us the grace in the midst of illness, suffering, and dying, to trust in your healing power and presence, find comfort and peace in your love, and keep our eyes on Jesus our Lord and Savior. Amen.
“This I recall to my mind, | Therefore I have hope. | The LORD’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, | For His compassions never fail. | They are new every morning; | Great is Your faithfulness. | ‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘Therefore I have hope in Him.’” Lamentations 3:21–24 NASB
See also Matthew 27:57–66, John 19:38–42, and 1 Peter 4:1–8.
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Not So Different After All
By Linda Rex
October 27, 2019, Proper 25—Standing next to my husband at my mother-in-law’s visitation, I listened as he spoke with a family friend. He had grown up with these people and as part of a small farming community, they were each connected in a variety of ways, most specifically by their common history of family farms. As I listened to him talk, I realized the radical difference between someone who is isolated from and unfamiliar with death, and someone who sees death as the normal outcome of any creature’s existence, whether human or animal.
When someone has cared for animals, as farmers do, he or she has often experienced the life cycle from birth to death and understands that death is the normal end to any creature’s existence. But death is also devastating and destructive, and it is often fought with every weapon available. Because we value life and reject death, we often spend thousands of dollars to attempt to prevent or postpone a death which in the end is going to happen anyway. This can be one of the greatest struggles we face as humans—dealing with the reality of death and dying.
Indeed, it is a tragedy when we lose someone dear to us, when our life is shattered by the loss of someone who gave us great joy, love, and companionship. When we wake up each morning without our spouse or loved one, we are faced anew with the pain of our loss and the deep grief which goes with it. It is especially tragic when death takes away a baby or a child—someone who was just beginning their life—it seems so unfair and unjust. These are great losses, and they pierce us down to the depths of our heart, and they don’t just go away over time.
I believe the reason it hurts so much to lose someone to death is because this was not what we were created for. God intended us to eat of the tree of life and to live forever. He never wanted us to experience death and the separation that goes with it. But we made that choice—and continue to make that choice—as we choose to decide for ourselves what is good and what is evil, and we continue to believe and live out the lie that God doesn’t love us and doesn’t want what is best for us.
I would not want to think that I choose death, but when I reflect upon my life and the choices I have made about different things, I find that death is often the ultimate outcome of the choices I have made. Perhaps it is healthier, though, to recognize and acknowledge this than it is to believe that I have only chosen life. The gospel passage for this Sunday tells a story which reminds us that we need to see ourselves with clear vision and not to ignore our capacity to choose death over life.
Jesus told this parable, according to Luke, to “some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt.” He told of the Pharisee, a very righteous man who prided himself on following the law and keeping every rule established by the Jewish leaders. This man stood, as a good Jew would, and praying to himself, told God how grateful he was that he wasn’t like the tax collector who stood at the other end of the room. He named all the things he wasn’t and reminded God of all the things he did right.
He started out his prayer saying, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men…” What he failed to see or acknowledge was the simple truth—he was just the same as everyone else on the planet. He was just as much a sinner as the tax collector—he just didn’t see it and certainly didn’t want to admit it. One day he would die just like every other human being—and then what? What good would all his efforts be then, when he would be faced with the reality that he was a sinner just like everyone else?
A companion passage for this Sunday’s message is 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18, where Paul has a frank conversation with his protégé Timothy, letting him know he is nearing the end of his life. Paul embraced his death, not fearing it, but rather looking forward to the receiving the “crown of righteousness” he would receive from Jesus in that day. He knew that the source of his righteousness did not lie within himself, but solely in the Lord Jesus. He did not fear death, but bravely walked toward it, trusting in the love and faithfulness of God in the midst of whatever situation he found himself. He knew in his next moment of consciousness he would be with Jesus and would live forever in glory with him.
The transformation of the solely pagan Roman Empire into one which accepted Christianity was partly due to the way in which early believers treated death. Many, when faced with torture or death for not renouncing Christ, chose to happily, with a song or word of praise on their lips, go forward into death. They did not fear it, but chose it over abandoning their faith in Christ. Death was not seen as an enemy but as a conquered foe, and as a passage into real life, life evermore in the presence of Jesus Christ.
They could do this because they were honest with themselves about the reality that they were sinners saved by grace. They knew the source of all life, of all their hope for the world to come, lay in the Lord Jesus who had entered into our suffering and death as God in human flesh, and had risen again, bearing our humanity into the presence of the Father. He brought all of us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light—from death into life—giving us an eternal hope in the face of death and dying.
But the struggle we have as human beings is coming to the place where we are willing to say, “I’m no different than any other man—I too am a sinner.” We each need to come to the place where we acknowledge our need for what God has done for us in Christ.
We are each in the garden again, and God is inviting us to eat of the tree of life—choose Christ! What we don’t want to do is to continue to choose death by insisting on our own path of self-justification, of deciding for ourselves what is right, what is wrong, and how to get our own selves right before God. Jesus did all that is necessary—he invites us to turn to him in faith, trusting in him for all that we need.
Come to Jesus Christ and allow him to share with you his right relationship with his heavenly Father. In Christ, you are a forgiven, accepted, beloved “sinner”—a child of God. Believe it. Receive it. Embrace it. Live!
Dear Abba, heavenly Father, thank you for giving us life in your Son Jesus Christ and sending us your Spirit so that we may participate in this divine gift. May we humbly confess we are sinners who are in need of all Christ has done, is doing, and will do—free us from our self-justification, our self-righteousness, our stubborn resistance to life and insistence on the ways of death. Thank you for your faithfulness and love, and that you will finish what you have begun, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
“And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: ‘Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: “God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.” But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner!” I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.’” Luke 18:9–14
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Waiting in Silence
By Linda Rex
HOLY SATURDAY—Sometimes when wandering through a garden or while I’m picking berries, I’ll come across a cocoon hidden under some leaves. Looking at the neatly formed shape, I will marvel at God’s creation, and then I will wonder just what might be lying inside.
There within this cocoon a transformation is taking place. I once read that while in its cocoon, all a caterpillar was is reduced down to its elements and reformed into something new. The butterfly or moth which eventually pushes its way out from the cocoon may look completely different from its earlier form, but it is still in essence the same creature.
From the outside, the cocoon is like a tomb. There doesn’t appear to be any activity. It looks like a misshapen blob at times—something which needs to be removed from the plant or limb and thrown away. Even though something significant is going on inside, it is not obviously apparent to anyone who happens upon it.
On Holy Saturday we are reminded of how Jesus’s body was removed from the cross and laid in a tomb. Nicodemus brought myrrh and aloes, and helped Joseph of Arimathea with the burial process, wrapping the body linen and spices. The new tomb in the garden near where Jesus was crucified was blessed to receive the body of our Savior.
After Jesus was laid in the tomb, a stone was rolled in front of the entrance to close it. The Jews asked that the tomb be sealed, and it was—they hoped to prevent a rumor that Jesus had risen from the dead. They had heard that Jesus had promised to rise again, and thought it was only the vain hope of a would-be messiah. They did what they could to ensure the tomb could not be tampered with.
If we had sat opposite the tomb on Saturday, as Mary and Mary Magdalene had done the night before, we would have seen a silent spectacle. We would have had no ability to see what was going on inside the tomb. The grave would have been silent, with the only sounds being the wind rustling the tree leaves, the birds singing, or perhaps the voices and activities of people nearby.
Looking hard at the tomb, we would have seen only stillness. Considering the dead body within, we’d only hear silence. There would only be darkness within the tomb, we’d reason—nothing would be going on. When a person dies and is laid in the grave, all that’s left is decomposition and eventually dried out bones and dust. From the exterior, we would have had to assume that this was what was happening here, and that this was the end of all we had hoped and planned.
Maybe after a while, we would remember that Jesus liked talking about seeds in reference to himself and the kingdom of God. A seed, he said, must die in order for a new plant to grow and for many new seeds to be harvested. For Jesus, death never stood alone on its own—it was always accompanied by resurrection. He wanted his followers to understand that his path needed to go down the road to death, but that was never meant to be the end. Jesus’ death was only a step along the path to new life for all humanity.
This is a good thought. What if we saw the times of death, of silent waiting, not as times to grieve, but rather as times to hope? What if, instead of imagining someone going back to the dust from which they were made, we picture instead the renewal and transformation of what has been laid in the tomb? Maybe we should look at the places in our lives or relationships which appear to be dead and lifeless as being places where seeds have been planted which only need the light and water of God’s presence and power to bring about new life and an abundant harvest.
It is easy to come to places in our lives where we are faced with death and dying. The human story is one in which death occurs constantly—not just death of people, but death of dreams, relationships, businesses, or even churches. We fear death, when actually we should embrace death as the path Jesus trod in order that we might experience new life and new existence grounded within himself. Death can be a good thing, especially when we die to wrong ways of thinking or living or we die to the control of our broken sinful ways of being.
The spiritual discipline of silence in some ways resonates with the silent waiting at the tomb of Jesus. In silence, we set ourselves in God’s presence to listen and to wait, allowing ourselves to become attuned to the heart of the Father. When our attention wanders or our mind takes off on some errant thought, we need only redirect ourselves back to silence. Here we are, in this moment, with God. What does he have to say to us?
When we are busy going about our lives, caught up in the day-to-day issues we face, we may miss the growth and healing opportunities which come through attending upon God in silence. There is an intimacy in our relationship with God which grows when we slow down to pause and just be with God for a time. Perhaps we could spend a few minutes even now, picturing ourselves sitting beside the tomb, pondering what just happened this week and wondering what God is planning to do next.
Is there some place in your life where you are facing death or loss? Do you have a place in your life which feels as though it is dark and empty, with no hope of renewal? Perhaps symbolically you may take this into your hands and hold it out to God, laying it in the tomb with Jesus. And then wait for a time in silence. Allow Jesus to meet you in these moments, to remind you of his promise, which he kept in faithful love.
The seed planted in the ground often lays there for a time. The roots may be growing deep into the soil long before we ever see a sprout. Jesus lay in the tomb and all was silent—but great, amazing things were at work in God’s creation. A renewal, a turning about of all which was broken, lost, and dying was happening as Jesus Christ lay in the grave.
Holy Saturday reminds us that God is always and ever at work in our lives. As we turn to Jesus in faith, the Spirit reminds us that God loves us and has our best interests at heart even when all we see is a silent grave. Abba is a working, renewing, restoring, and healing, even though we may not see him at work. As we rest in Christ and wait in silence, we can find renewal and encouragement to hope in times of despair. God is at work and will not stop until he has finished what he has begun. We can count on him.
Thank you, Abba, that you never cease to bring new life and hope into our lives. Thank you, Jesus, for embracing death so that we could share eternal life with you. Holy Spirit, remind us anew that we are loved and cared for, and that Abba will work all things to the good, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
“Therefore because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.” John 19:42 NASB
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Out Of the Compost Heap
By Linda Rex
This morning I was researching information on the Nashville Metro government website about brush pickup and recycling. I came across an interesting document on composting.
I’m quite familiar with composting. My mom and dad were quite religious about having a compost pile in the backyard to use with their organic gardening projects. They were gifted at taking a desert or wilderness and turning it into a garden. Part of the process involved taking what most people throw in the trash and using it to fertilize their plants through the process of composting.
Their companions in this process were worms of various types. The article I was reading told about a way I could create a home for red worms, who would in return for this privilege decompose my kitchen scraps. Worms are amazing creatures—they take what is decomposing and turn it into valuable elements for the soil, so new things can grow.
It seems we as humans avoid death and dying, and decomposition, as much as possible. We fear death—creating whole industries in an effort to avoid or delay the decomposition and decay of our bodies, even though this is the natural process of our physical form. We have an inherent desire to live and to endure.
What’s interesting is that we are drawn toward health and healing, toward wellness, while at the same time we live and make choices in ways which actually hasten the destruction of our bodies. We are a mess of complications, and we struggle in various ways to be sound of mind, body, and emotions.
The same is often true of our inner selves. The inner drive of our being is to live—to experience the fullness of life in this body—to really know another and to be truly known and loved. And we seek it in a variety of ways—in our experiences, in our relationships, in our indulgences, and in the goals we strive toward. We may do things we know probably aren’t wise just because we are driven by this inner longing.
In all our seeking of life, we may find ourselves held captive by those things we have hoped would bring us life and happiness. It seems death always finds a way of creeping in and ruining our hopes and dreams, and the pleasures of this life.
If death and dying, and decomposition, are a natural part of our human existence, perhaps we should reconsider how we approach our life. The Bible tells us our God, who is Father, Son, and Spirit, made all things including us as human beings out of nothing. And we had the opportunity to share in their existence by eating of the tree of life, but we chose to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God told Adam our choice (and I say ours, because we all invariably make this choice in our natural humanity) leads to death.
Death, rather than life, became the governing force in our cosmos. All things eventually come to an end and begin decomposing into the more basic elements of the universe, to become part of something new. The miracle is in the becoming something new—for apart from the sustaining hand of God himself, the cosmos would return to the nothingness from which it came.
God did not want all things to return to nothing—he made something very good and wanted it to remain and flourish. God did what needed to be done, for only God can bring to life what is dead and dying. Only God can make something out of nothing.
So, God took on our broken and dying humanity—he came into our existence to live as we live, and to die our death, experiencing the worst of human depravity in the process. This death Jesus went through on our behalf was for a purpose—to raise us, and all that he had made, up into new life.
Before we can have new life, there has to be an ending of the old life. Jesus described this in John 12:24-25: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.” Just as in Jesus our old way of being died on the cross and was buried, so in Jesus our new life rose and walked out of the tomb. We have new life in our Lord Jesus Christ, but we need to embrace it and live it out.
Death is never the end now. Decomposition is merely the next step in our broken human existence after we die. But Christ has done what the little red worm could only do as a shadow of his perfection—he has taken our death and turned it into life. He has made all things new. There is a new life awaiting on the other side of death. Death is not our enemy, nor is it something to be feared. Now it is only a gateway to glory—as we trust in Christ and what he has done and will do for us in our place and on our behalf.
Perhaps we need to think of those things in our life we need to be freed from as items to be placed on the compost pile. We need to toss out our old ways of thinking and acting, putting them on the pile, and allowing Christ to eliminate, renew, and restore as needed. They died with him and are really of no use to us anymore except to keep us in the stranglehold of death.
As we participate in Christ’s death, dying to old habits and ways of thinking, we make room for God to bring new life, healing, and wholeness. We will begin to see new life sprout up in us and all around us as we become more aware of and sensitive to the work of the Spirit in our lives, as he brings the risen Lord Jesus Christ to full expression within us. May we respond to God’s work—the work of the Divine Composter—as he finishes his perfect work in us through Jesus and by his Spirit.
Abba, thank you for your faithful, tender care as you work in us what you began before the cosmos was. Finish your work to heal, transform, and renew all things—and grant us the grace to respond fully and freely to you as you work out in us your salvation, through Jesus and by your precious Spirit. Amen.
“Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them; and I will reveal to them an abundance of peace and truth. I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel and will rebuild them as they were at first. I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me. It will be to Me a name of joy, praise and glory before all the nations of the earth which will hear of all the good that I do for them, and they will fear and tremble because of all the good and all the peace that I make for it.” Jeremiah 33:6-9 NASB
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To Hire a Sheriff
By Linda Rex
Good Friday: There was a time in my life where one of my favorite authors was Zane Grey. One reason I enjoyed his westerns was because he illustrated well both the beauty and depravity of the human heart and spirit. Granted, by modern standards, his writing may have been laborious and tedious at times. And I understand history was much more complex than what was described in the pages of his books. But the whole idea of humans taking on the adventure of settling in a new land and being transformed as they faced the dangers and challenges inherent with such a change has been inspiring and instructive to me.
One of the concerns wrestled with by inhabitants of the newly settled West was that of law and order. Former citizens of the Eastern seaboard took it for granted the average person was bound by an inherent need to do what was best for the community and to live by standards of honesty and decency. Having officers of the law available to enforce these expectations was assumed. But such individuals did not exist in the West in the early years. What did exist was the inner law, however misguided, of the hearts and minds of those venturing out into areas which were unsettled by those not native to America.
As small towns grew up, one of the settlers’ first items of business might have been to begin to enforce law and order. The citizens of these small towns would come together and agree to hire or elect a sheriff. These sheriffs usually weren’t picked because they were nice, friendly folks. Rather, they were almost always men who could draw a gun at lightning speed and track down and bring to justice evil men who preyed upon others. These sheriffs often were just as hard, cold and calculating as those men the townspeople were hoping to get rid of, but that was the price the townspeople were willing to pay in order to have law and order in their community.
If you were to drop down into the midst of one of these stories, you might find yourself standing in front of the general store, facing a ragged-looking pony. Looking up the street you’d see a tall, lean man standing quietly on the dusty road, his body tense, his guns low, and his hands hovering close by his holsters. He’d be intently staring up the road at something.
You’d lean a little to the left to look past the pony, and you’d see a couple of nasty looking fellows, both of whom are sporting wicked leers and heavy artillery on their belts. At this point, you’d decide you’d be much safer inside the general store, especially since all the other residents would have vacated the street several minutes ago.
Imagine at this point if instead of electing a tall, dark gunslinger for sheriff, the townspeople had hired Jesus Christ. Yes, I realize that even trying to imagine this possibility might cause excruciating mental torment, but please bear with me.
These two, twisted, violent men are well known in their community for the horrible things they have done to men, women and children, and for the wretchedness of their character and behavior. They are cold, calculating, and evil to the core. And they are facing a man who looks at them with eyes of compassion and understanding, but who is not wearing any form of law enforcement equipment. What would happen next?
I can’t imagine any author of Western novels creating such a storyline. The West wasn’t “won” by mild-mannered men in robes and sandals. Law and order wasn’t established by someone offering multitudes bread and fish, or by someone telling parables and healing the sick. This isn’t what we associate with the civilizing of early Western America. To even imagine this possibility creates a huge level of disbelief in our hearts and minds.
In the same way, the historical event of Good Friday stands out in my mind as an enormously unbelievable and countercultural event. It seems we as human beings refuse to accept the reality we are more inclined to resolve our issues through the application of force, violence and control than to resolve them by offering ourselves up in humility, service and sacrifice. To handle the depravity and brokenness of human nature by giving oneself over to be beaten, ridiculed and crucified just doesn’t make sense to us. Yet, this is what Jesus did.
God came to earth and we crucified him. It’s as simple as that. When Jesus Christ could have drawn upon all the power inherent within himself to execute deserved retribution on all who hated him, abused and crucified him, he instead offered himself up as a sacrifice. Even though God could have created law and order by forcing people to do everything the way he wanted it done, God gave us instead the freedom to choose and to make mistakes. And the Father even offered us his beloved Son, and we treated his Son shamefully, rejecting his most precious gift by destroying the One who came to save us.
But it was in that very effort of ours to destroy the One who was given to us God did his most amazing work. It was in our rejection of and crucifixion of Jesus Christ that God bound us to himself with inseparable cords of love. Through the resurrection, what was meant for death and destruction has become our salvation and redemption. This is God’s most amazing creation of all—a new humanity built in the midst of and out of the depths of our depravity, evil and brokenness. God said we were worth every bit of suffering and loss the Father, Son and Spirit had to experience in order to bring about his perfect end.
Unlike the perfect Zane Grey ending where the cowboy gets the girl and puts the criminals behind bars or under the gravestones in the local cemetery, God gives us a more perfect ending. He works it out so he has us, with him, for all eternity. He gets transformed, healed, renewed children to share his life and love forever. And in my humble opinion, that is the best possible ending to the story which includes the events of Good Friday. What more could we ask for?
Lord Jesus, I don’t understand how you could just stand there and let us do to you what we did. But you allowed us to do to you whatever we wanted—and it turns out we treated you shamefully, rejecting you and your love, and we tried to destroy the most precious gift your Father could have offered us. It is amazing how your Father took this very act and used it to bind us all to you in an unbreakable bond of love. Now we are yours, God, forever, in the grace offered us in you, Jesus. Thank you for your unfailing love and forgiveness, through Jesus Christ and by your Spirit we pray. Amen.
“So Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?’” John 18:11 NASB
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Our Life in the Trinity 