Good Earth

St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, Gainesville FL
April 21, 2012

Good Friday
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Psalm 22
Hebrews 10:16-25
John 18:1-19:42

Good Earth

Whenever people die, it’s perfectly normal to reflect on the meaning of their lives.

Sometimes, especially if a person has lived a long, full, loving life, we give thanks for a life well lived and quietly hope the same for us.

And sometimes, if a person dies young or tragically, we wonder why, we mourn the lost promise – and quietly whisper the cliché, “There but for the grace of God go I.”

Reflection about the meaning of the life and death of Jesus probably began when his lifeless body still hung on the cross.

His mother and the other women and the Beloved Disciple standing at the foot of the cross, probably barely able to look through their tears at Jesus’ battered body, must have struggled to make sense of what had happened to this man – son, friend, rabbi.

And I imagine the disciples - wherever they were hiding - must have also begun reflecting on Jesus, reflecting on the meaning of his life, reflecting on the meaning of their time together. And, maybe they also reflected with shame on their own cowardly abandonment of their teacher and friend, the one who had so recently broken bread with them, the one who had just washed their feet.

We know of course what’s going to happen next. Unlike the women at the foot of the cross and the other disciples we’re already planning and anticipating the celebrations that will take place tomorrow night and Sunday morning.

Of course, the resurrection didn’t stop people from reflecting on the meaning of Jesus’ life and death – just the opposite, really.

Among Christians in the early centuries there was a lot of reflection about Jesus’ nature. Who and what was Jesus?

Some people had a hard time accepting that Jesus was a human being just like us. Instead, some people argued that, like a character out of mythology, Jesus was a divine being who was only pretending to be a human being.

People who believed Jesus was just pretending to be a human being could and did point to how Jesus is usually depicted in the Gospel of John. More than the other gospels, John nearly always presents Jesus as being very much in control, very confident about his identity, and very certain of his mission.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus often seems more divine than human. Usually Jesus doesn’t seem to share the doubts and fears that you and I have in abundance.

From the cosmic opening verses of his Gospel, John makes the point that the Word of God has come and lived among us in Jesus of Nazareth - Jesus who lived right here on this same beautiful and fragile planet where today you and I go about our lives.

As we just heard in the reading of the Passion, the great tragedy is that people not so different from us rejected God’s presence and nailed the Word of God to a piece of wood.

Two thousand years ago it was the Jewish religious authorities and the Roman political authorities who killed Jesus. But, I suspect the abandonment by his friends hurt Jesus more than the nails that pierced his wrists.

And, let’s face it, few if any of us, would have done better than the cowardly disciples or the people in the crowd calling for Jesus’ death.

John is the most spiritual of the gospels, but even John presents the stark fact that Jesus’ body was a vulnerable human body – just like our bodies.

Jesus’ body was a body born of a woman – and so Mary endures the agony of watching her son die an excruciating death.

Jesus’ body was a vulnerable human body – a body that was easily flogged by physically stronger men.

John tells us that Jesus’ face – a real face just like ours - was struck.

John tells us that a mocking crown of thorns was placed on Jesus’ head and a mocking purple robe draped over his battered body.

John tells us that Jesus was thirsty – just as our own mouths get parched.

None of this was happening on a mysterious spiritual plane, but right here on planet earth. Flesh and blood human beings brutalized another flesh and blood human being - an old, old story.

But, as the first Christians reflected on the life and death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, they came to a mind-blowing conclusion. As the first Christians continued to experience Jesus’ presence in Scripture, in the bread and the wine, in one another, in their hears, they came to a mid-blowing conclusion.

They came to the mind-blowing conclusion that in a unique and unexpected way, God entered our flesh and blood world in this particular human being – this particular human being who was battered and killed by those temporarily more powerful than he.

When we look at Jesus we see what God is really like.

And, then, despite that horrible rejection – God still didn’t – and still doesn’t give up on us.

Why?

The only possible answer is love.

God loves us - not in some abstract way – God doesn’t just love the idea of us – God loves flesh and blood us.

God loves the good creation – loves this beautiful and fragile planet where Jesus walked among us and where today you and I go about our lives.

And so, because God loves us and loves creation, God reveals God’s Self to us in Jesus of Nazareth.

God reveals God’s Self in Jesus who taught about the kingdom of God; Jesus who gave sight to the sightless; Jesus who gave new life to those thought to be dead forever.

We look at Jesus and see what God is really like.

And because Jesus is a flesh and blood human being – we look at Jesus and see what we are meant to be – what we were always meant to be.

We look at Jesus and see that we are meant to give of ourselves in loving service to one another.

We look at Jesus and see that we are meant to love the good creation just as God loves the good creation.

Reflection about the meaning of the life and death of Jesus probably began when his lifeless body still hung on the cross.

And the fruit of that reflection is that when we look at Jesus, we see what God is really like.

And when we look at Jesus, we see what we are meant to be like.

Amen.