Being
there, there is something about being there.
If you have ever stood at the rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts where the
Mayflower landed, if you have ever visited the site of the Boston Tea Party, if
you have ever stood in the Capitol rotunda or beheld the Lincoln Memorial, if
you have ever been to the ruins of 16th Street Baptist Church in
Birmingham, if you have been to the where the World Trade Center once stood, if
even you have visited the grave of your great-great grandfather or stood in the
house where your grandmother was born if you have done any of these, then you
know that there is something about being there...that gives meaning.
Since as early as the 2nd
Century our Christian ancestors have agreed that there was something about
being there. And so alone or in groups
they traveled from their homes hundreds or thousands of miles away to be at the
place where our faith was born; Jerusalem, the Mt. Of Olives, Golgotha and the
empty tomb. This journey was called a
pilgrimage and those who went were called pilgrims and for those who went it
could be life changing. But, what about
those for health or financial reasons who could not make the trek? Should they not be able to experience the
meaning of being in the place where our Lord walked? No.
And so, some ingenious ancestors of ours decided that if not everyone
can go to place where Jesus walked, then they would bring the place where Jesus
walked to everyone. And thus was born
The Via Crucia, Via Delarosa , The way of the cross also known as The Stations
of the Cross.
If you have been in a catholic
sanctuary then you have likely seen a set of images depicting various scenes
from Jesus journey to the cross. They
are numbered (usually in roman numerals) from one to fourteen. These images were created to give everyday
folk who could never travel to Jerusalem the chance to walk with Jesus in their
imagination. And so, you will see people
walk from image to image and station themselves in front of each image and
allow their imagination to take them there, to be there.
This season of Lent, we are going to
take this pilgrimage. Each week we are
going to read one or two scenes from Jesus journey to the cross and allow
ourselves to be there. Do you want to
come? Are you willing to come
along? If so, then let us do as Jesus
invited all his disciples, let us pick up our cross and follow him – first to
another mountain. Listen now to the word
of the Lord.
Text Luke 22:39-51
39 Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his
disciples followed him. 40 On reaching the place, he said to them,
"Pray that you will not fall into temptation." 41 He
withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 "Father,
if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be
done." 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened
him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his
sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. 45 When he rose
from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted
from sorrow. 46 "Why are you sleeping?" he asked them.
"Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation."
47 While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who
was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to
kiss him, 48 but Jesus asked him, "Judas, are you betraying the
Son of Man with a kiss?" 49 When Jesus' followers saw what was
going to happen, they said, "Lord, should we strike with our swords?"
50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting
off his right ear. 51 But Jesus answered, "No more of
this!" And he touched the man's ear and healed him.
The
way in…
Have you ever experienced a dark
night? Do you know what I mean by dark
night? It could have been a literal or
figurative darkness. Perhaps you had a
difficult decision to make. Perhaps
something terrible happened that shook the foundations of your life. Perhaps you were just struggling and weren't
even sure why. One of my darkest nights
occurred on a furniture-less living room floor where I tried my best but was unable
to sleep.
Reinhard
After serving four years in the Army
I wanted a change so I applied and was accepted to a new program called Mission
Year. I have spoken about this program
before. This program takes young adults
from across the country and places them in low-income urban neighborhoods where
they live, worship and work for a year.
I was accepted and placed with Brett, Matt, Jen, Melanie and Stephanie
on Reinhard Street in Southwest Philadelphia.
At 26 I was the oldest in the group and designated the team leader. Through the army I'd been in charge of groups
ten times this size and so I figured five would be simple. Through the army I'd also been placed in
difficult, dangerous and high pressure situations so I also figured there was
nothing Philly could throw at me that I couldn't handle. My figurings collapsed on that first night.
After meeting my team and sharing a
spaghetti dinner each of the 5 teams in Philadelphia loaded all their stuff
they'd brought for the year into Uhaul's and dispersed to their respective
neighborhoods. Now I had seen our street
in the daytime and to be honest, it looked pretty bad. Reinhard was a one-way street that had cars
in various stages of repair parked along the sidewalk. Twenty-five foot wide row houses, each
sharing a wall faced one another down the street giving it a tight feel. If you've seen sesame street, which was
created in Philly, you have an idea of the structure. Reinhard looked rough but it also had a kind
of tight knit feel to it, this was in the day-time on a weekday. As it turns out, things change a little bit
at 10:00 on a Friday night.
I don't think I'll ever forget the
knot that rose in my throat when we pulled onto Reinhard that night. I hesitate to say we drove down the street
because we lurched due to all of the kids running around. Folks lined strolled the sidewalks while
others sat on their stoops. It was
still summer, so our windows were down and it was loud – three or four stereos
boomed and people were just talking and laughing. It was like we'd rolled into a party to which
I was pretty sure we had not been invited.
I could feel the eyes of folks follow us, like a bizarro parade as we
proceeded to our house.
Just as we know when there is a
visitor in our church, it isn't difficult for folks who live on a street to
recognize visitors. If such was the case
with us, just think what people would have thought when a U-Haul truck pulled
down their street out of which came six white folk ranging in age from 19-26
who then proceeded to unload their suitcases, dishes and mountain bikes and
pile into this vacant row house.
I don't think I've ever unloaded so
quickly. If we could just get in the
house, I thought, we'll be safe. But
when we got in the house and closed the door, the sounds seemed only to grow
louder. People grabbed their sleeping bags,
found a room to sleep in and went off to crash.
As the leader, I felt compelled to lay myself near the front door like a
guard dog. If anything should happen, I
felt I should be the first to deal with it.
If we could just get to sleep,
everything would be okay. Problem is,
unlike the disciples, I couldn't sleep.
The noises outside seemed only to grow louder, I could have sworn people
were on our steps, in my mind, about to burst in. Around 2:00 things died down, but my heart
and ears didn't. Every passing car,
closing screen door our footsteps put me on alert.
And then the questions came. What, I was thinking, have I gotten myself
into? If
I can't even fall asleep, how in the world am I going to get through
this year, let alone lead this team? My
dad had driven me up to Philadelphia.
Not one too familiar with the city he was quite taken aback and offered
to just take me home. I laughed and
refused. Its a good thing he wasn't
there that night or maybe, just maybe I would have taken him up on it. Its a good thing I didn't because had I not
made it through that dark night, I would have missed out on one of the most
significant years of my life.
Jesus'
dark night
Jesus' dark night was certainly
different from mine and likely yours, but its also possible there are
similarities. Having just eaten a meal,
this small group headed out to the Mt. of Olives to pray and await what came
next. Jesus had been leading this little
ragtag group of disciples for three years at this point. They trusted him. Jesus also knew that there were forces
marshalling against him. He had spoken
out too many times, caused too much of a disturbance. He, along with every other Jew, knew what
happened to those that caused trouble.
The Romans placed their bodies on crosses and the crosses on hills at
the entrance to the cities. The crosses
were like billboards reminding the people what happened to the people who “got
out of line.” Jesus had been out of line
for some time and he knew his opportunity to escape the consequences were
fading with the evening sun. Before him
sat three options. He could flee. Jesus could go back to Galilee. He could hide for a while til things died
down. He'd then get married, have
children, build houses and have a normal life.
Certainly this was an appealing option.
The second option was to fight.
This is the tactic every other messiah had taken. Its what was expected. It is likely what Judas expected and perhaps
why he betrayed Jesus. If you read the
passage before this station when Jesus tells the disciples if they don't have a
sword they should sell their cloak to buy one, it certainly begins to appear
that Jesus has decided on to fight. And
that is how they enter the Mt of Olives and garden of Gethsemane. Still able to flee, but preparing for a
fight. Yet, something changes in the
garden that leads to a third option.
Take
this cup
“Pray with me,” he said to his disciples, “pray that you do
not fall into temptation.” This was not
a new way to pray. Jesus had already taught
them to ask the Father to, “...lead us not into temptation but deliver us from
evil.” But what temptation lurked that
night? Olives? Most likely just sleep. Or might it be another temptation?
Jesus withdrew a stone's throw and
began, himself to pray, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from
me...” If you ever doubted Jesus humanity need look no further than
here. Sometimes we are given the
impression that Jesus came to earth excited about dying. Nothing could be further from the truth. Weddings with wine, journeys with family to
Jerusalem, the satisfaction of a hard days work and food; salted fish, matza,
bread and wine; and laughter – over a child's language or a friends joke; and
music and dancing and sunrises. Oh the
beauty of it all. Jesus had fallen in
love with this world. Isn't that the
truth about the Lord, for God so loved this world. No, he wasn't ready to leave and so he asked
if there maybe, just may be might be another way. Have you ever prayed such a thing?
I don't want to have this
conversation with my spouse – is there another way. I don't want to find a new job – is there
another way. I don't want to end this
relationship – is there another way? I
don't want to give this thing up – is there another way? I don't want to go through this surgery – is
there another way? I don't want to have
to move out of my house – is there another way?
I'm not yet ready to say goodbye
– is there another way? Father if
you are willing, take this cup from me...
Jesus reveals that God wants to hear our desires. It is okay to ask for them. But there was another part to Jesus'
prayer. “...yet not my will but yours
be done.”
Your
will be done
Your will be done. This is a familiar prayer too. “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be
Thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done... on earth as it is in heaven...” Just as Jesus said that all the laws can be
summed up in the two commandments to love God and our neighbor, I believe that
Jesus has summed up all our prayers in this phrase, “thy will be done.” To pray God's will be done is to confess that
there is a limit to our will. To pray
God's will be done is to trust God's knowledge and love and goodness over our
own. Have you ever prayed such a prayer?
I don't want to have this
conversation with my spouse – yet I desire even more to do what you want Oh
Lord. I don't want to find a new job –
yet I desire even more to do what you want Oh Lord. I don't want to go through this surgery, move
out of my house, or say goodbye – yet even more than these things, I desire
that your will be done Oh Lord. Ever
prayed such a prayer? Its not easy but
its good.
Something changed when Jesus stood
up from this prayer. He had made up his
mind. He would not flee, but we still
don't know if he would fight.
No
More of This
Like us, the spirit of the disciples
was willing, but their flesh was weak and they fell asleep. While waking them the crowd arrived led by Judas. Our culture doesn't greet one another with a
kiss, but you might be surprised to read at least five times the New Testament
instructs it as a way of greeting one another.
A handshake gets close to our equivalent but even closer is a hug. Can you imagine being hugged by someone who
is betraying you? Can you imagine seeing
one of your trusted friends stand up in a courtroom and lie about something you
did which you knew was going to result in your going to jail? Were such a thing to happen could you then
imagine hugging this person? Jesus
could, but Peter could not.
Though Jesus had made peace with the
Father's will and way that salvation would come, Peter. Still thinking that God's kingdom would come
by violent means he pulled out his sword and did what I believe Judas was
hoping Jesus would do. He cuts one of
the soldiers. If you've ever seen a
brawl or even a food fight you know what was supposed to happen next. The two groups were supposed to go at
it. An eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, ear for an ear, that's how things are
supposed to go. This was the moment
Jesus could choose fight. All he had to
do was give the word. And Jesus does
give the word, but what does he say?
“No more of this.” No more of
this violence. No more swords. No more revenge. No more of trying to bring God's kingdom with
weapons of steel. No more of this,
instead, God's kingdom will come like this “and he touched the man's ear and
healed him.” Jesus heals his
killers. Not flight. Not fight.
Rather, God's will was to be done through forgiveness.
The
way out...
And thus begins, brothers and
sisters, Jesus' journey to the cross.
Now that you have caught a glimpse of the path you know that it will be
full of anguish, betrayal, suffering, trouble and death – I would not blame you
for rejecting such a cup. Will we flee,
will we fight or will we walk this path of the one who was able to see God's
will be done through forgiveness?
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