| Matthew 27:45-56 "When Dreams Die" |
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| Written by Rev. Don Lee | |
| Saturday, 08 April 2006 | |
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The story is told about a little boy who was doing badly in math. His parents had tried everything... Tutors, Mentors, flash cards, Learning centers. Nothing worked. Finally, in a last ditch effort, they enrolled their son the local Catholic school. After the 1st Day, little boy came home with a serious look on his face. He went straight to his room and started studying. Books and papers were spread out all over the room and the boy appeared hard at work. His mother was speechless. She called him down to dinner. To her shock, the minute he was done, he marched right back up to his room and began to study. This went on, day after day until report card day. After school, the boy brought home his report card and quietly laid it on the table, and went up to his room and hit the books. To her amazement, he had gotten an "A" in math! She could no longer help her curiosity. She went to his room and said, "Honey, I’m so proud of you? But what made the difference? Was it the nuns?" The boy shook his head no. “Well then, was it the books, the discipline, the uniforms?” Her son shook his head no. “Well then, what was it?” He replied, "Mom, on the first day of school when I saw that guy nailed to the PLUS SIGN, I knew they weren't fooling around!" One thing the scripture makes very clear, this cross is serious stuff! Our reading comes from the Gospel of Matthew 27:45-56. As you are able, please stand for the reading of the gospel. 45 From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 46And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ 47When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, ‘This man is calling for Elijah.’ 48At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink. 49But the others said, ‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.’ 50Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. 51At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. 53After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to many. 54Now when the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were terrified and said, ‘Truly this man was God’s Son!’ 55 Many women were also there, looking on from a distance; they had followed Jesus from Galilee and had provided for him. 56Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. Prayer: Lord Jesus, as you entered Jerusalem, you did not look like the Messiah we expected, bouncing in on the back of a donkey. Lord Jesus, as you hung in agony on the cross, you did not look like the King of Kings. Lord Jesus, give us the ability to see you as the God you are, rather than the God we would have you be. Amen. Sometimes things don’t turn out the way you’ve planned. And sometimes, tragically, they do…What starts out as a parade of Palms and sung Hallelujah’s quickly digresses into a cruel execution. For three hours, claims Matthew, Jesus hangs in agony on the cross. I don’t know how many times he cries out, but this time it’s noticeably different. (an-ab-o-ah'-o) “anaboao,” Literally, Jesus screams out…the 1st verse of the 22nd Psalm, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ Seems like an odd response from Jesus… · given he predicted this moment throughout his 3 years of ministry; · given that he seemed dead set on getting to Jerusalem, · inciting the religious leaders to arrest him, · refusing to defend himself or to placate their demands. It’s a strange response given Jesus’ own words proclaiming, “The Father and I are one.” -John 10:30 And yet, these words are in fact exactly what you’d expect to hear from someone in intense suffering. “God, where are you? How could you have allowed this to happen? Why have you let me down?” Some at the crucifixion conclude Jesus is crying out to Elijah. If ever there was a messianic figure in the OT its Elijah the prophet. He feeds the hungry by multiplying the stores of a widow, manipulates Mother Nature causing both drought and rain (symbols of divine judgment and grace). He even raises the dead! If you know your OT, Elijah was purported to have been so righteous he obtained immortality, ascending into heaven in a fiery chariot. “Let’s see if this Jesus really is as “tight” with God as he says he is…If Elijah shows, that certainly an argument “for,” onlookers reason. Jesus cries out one more time and then breathes his last. Every once in a while, something unique happens. The planets align, fortuitous events conspire, and the truly amazing takes place. Early, last Wednesday morning, the forces of time aligned with one another….01-02-03-04-05-06. At 1:02 a.m., three seconds in, on April 5th, 2006. It won’t happen for another hundred years. Most of us won’t be around to witness it! The gospel story records an alignment of sorts; a once-in-a lifetime event. · Darkness falls upon the land. Most of us have witnessed a solar eclipse, somewhat rare but it does happen. · Nor are earthquakes that unusual, even in the Middle East. Rocks split, furniture is repositioned, tapestries tear, grave markers topple. · And there have been cases where people are pronounced dead, only to awaken again. It’s a little disarming I imagine, but it has happened. To coincide these three events would take more then timing. It would take an “act of God.” That seems to be the message of the Gospel. What we are witnessing is an act of God. The Centurion and his friends get it. ‘Truly this man was God’s Son!’ They respond in verse 54. These events initiated by Jesus’ death serve as signs of the coming final age; · apocaylyptic darkness, · the destruction of old institutions and structures (symbolized by the tearing of the temple curtain) · and resurrection. As the story ends, Jesus’ male disciples have gone into hiding while his female disciples weep at his feet. They will be the first to witness his resurrection. Sometimes things don’t turn out the way you’ve planned. Sometimes, tragically, they do… “My God, my God why have you forsaken me…?” The truth is….no one get through life unbroken. We are all deeply flawed and failed people. United Methodists have often been accused of being easy on sin, and there might be some truth to that! It’s because of the universality of human brokenness and sin that our Church errs on the side of grace. Before publicly “casting stones” or privately plucking the “speck” from our neighbor’s eye, Jesus requires we 1st be willing to publicly and honestly confront our own brokenness and sin. And this is something I’ve found people are rarely able to do (especially us clergy folk). I mean, when’s the last time you’ve heard a minister in the pulpit confess her or his deepest darkest sin? Even the Apostle Paul was reluctant to reveal the true nature of his proverbial “thorn in the flesh.” Jesus’ reserved his harshest criticism for the hypocrisy of the religious, declaring instead that it is the job of the Holy Spirit to convict people of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8). Its okay if you don’t agree with me here, but I believe no one is fit to “cast the 1st stone.” Except by the grace of God, all of us are found wanting! The Disciples shared this human tendency; this reluctance to own up to one’s own brokenness, and deal with one’s own sin. The Disciples saw no reason for Jesus to die, certainly not for them (or their sin). What was Jesus going to free them from anyway? One of the profound affirmations of the crucifixion story is that God is present in and through human suffering. In his biography, Strong In The Broken Places, Episcopal priest, George Everett Ross writes about the 'savage grace' of God amid the suffering of life. "Christ accepts us--broken, limited, sinful and struggling long before we accept Him. Where we would put ourselves down, Christ bends to lift us up. Where we heap judgment and blame upon ourselves, he tenderly forgives and accepts us. Where we are filled with despair or overwhelming sorrow, Christ loves us with a love, which recreates us." A week ago Saturday I interviewed each of our 21 confirmands to make sure they had some sense of what they were committing to if they decided to be confirmed. I’ll always remember the response I got from one. I was explaining the meaning of the question, “Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world, and repent of your sin?” I explained that God gives us the choice to make good decisions and bad decisions, and our promise to God is to do the best we can to make the right decisions. And then I added, “And when we don’t, to remember there is still grace….” To which the confirmand added, “And thank God for that!” Maybe its true we United Methodists are obsessed with grace. We ought to be. On Friday I watched the end of a 20/20 special about Floridians, Tracy and Russell York who flew into LA to meet the family of the infant who received the heart of their son. On February 14, 4-month old Jordan suffered a fatal brain injury in his grandparent’s bed, after a pillow fell over his face and cut off his breathing. When the doctors asked the Yorks to consider organ donation, at 1st they were hesitant. But after he was baptized, they decided it was the right thing to do. While doctors kept Jordan’s body on life-support, surgeons looked for a match. And that would have been the end of the story had it not been for the tenacity of this grieving mother. Nicole and Michael Draper had twin sons born with dilated cardiomyopathy. Their heart muscles were not strong enough to pump efficiently. Both needed heart transplants to survive. Since Nick’s heart was considered the more severe of the two, it was decided he would receive the 1st available heart. Finding a heart from another infant is very difficult because the pool of potential donors is so small. But seven months after the twins were born, the Drapers got a call. A heart was available. The families met this week, just one month after Jordan was disconnected from life support and his heart flown to UCLA Mattel Children’s hospital where it was implanted in Nick. “What do you say to someone who’s just lost her baby?” says Nicole Draper, Nick’s mother. “We talked about what amazing people they were and what strength it took to make something positive out of such a difficult situation.” An emotional Michael Draper adds, “Why did this have to happen to such wonderful people? And yet Nick is with us doing well because of that. I don’t know how to process that. I don’t know how to think of that….” You can see the pain and loss on Russell and Tracy’s faces as the camera records them holding little Nick, and then, through a stethoscope, listen to their own son’s heart beating in that little baby. Tracy, responds, “I just believe [Jordan] was here to save Nick. That’s the hardest thing for me to say, you know. But I believe he was here for that baby. God had a plan for him…he’s a hero.” 20/20 4/7/06 I think his spirit will always be here, because his heart is still beating…” ABC News 3/2/06 abcnews.go.com/GMA/print?id=1678904 Here’s what my faith tells me. Jesus’ heart is still beating, in you, in me. And while it won’t make everything that’s wrong with our lives right (again), by the grace of God, we live. In the words of playwright, Eugene O'Neal, “(We are) born broken. (We live) by mending. The grace of God is the glue." –The Plays of Eugene O’Neill; NY, Random House, 1954 p. 318 Only when we see ourselves as broken, weak, needy can Easter truly come for us. That’s why you need to be here on Thursday night and be a part of the Taize service with Holy Communion. That’s why you need to experience the power of the Tenebrae service on Friday night—the service of darkness. That’s why you may want to choose to fast and pray one or two days during this coming week, maybe stop by the church and walk the Labyrinth. Only when we see ourselves as broken will we experience the glue of God’s grace. Pray with me, Lord, we confess our day-to-day failure to be truly human. We confess that we often fail to love with all we have and are. We confess our brokenness has incited your grace. While we desperately want to proclaim our innocence, We acknowledge, we too share in the guilt of Good Friday. And yet we proclaim Christ, Crucified and risen, And affirm that in life, in death, in life beyond death, You are with us. We are not alone…. And so we sing, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah…. |
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