LIVING AS FRIENDS OF THE CROSS

A sermon by George R. Pasley

Philippians 3:17-4:1; Luke 13:31-35

Our Gospel lesson tells us two things.

First, it tells us that Jesus was viewed as a threat by the powers of his day. His words were controversial, his miracles were menacing, and his life was intimidating to those who had the power to kill him.

Herod wanted to kill him, but Jerusalem WOULD kill him.

Herod ruled Galilee on behalf of Rome, and he was the one who had arrested John the Baptist and removed his head. If Herod threatened you, you took those threats seriously.

But they didn’t stop Jesus, which brings us to point number two:

Jesus was dead-set on doing what he came to do.

What was that?

Heal people.

Drive out demons

Gather God’s people together.

Enact the love of God.

But most importantly, to die in Jerusalem.

That was his mission from God and nothing could stop him-

Not well meaning advisors, nor angry kings, nor crowds who missed the point, nor anything else that came his way.

So each Lent, during the weeks that lead up to Holy Thursday and Good Friday, we take note to remember that Jesus died on a Cross for a reason. 

Jesus died to save us from our sins.

Jesus died to give us citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven.

But on Ash Wednesday- ten days ago- we remember something else: we are sinners who live as enemies of the cross.

That’s one reason why Paul wrote a letter to the church in Philippi. Our minds are on earthly things. But there is a different way to live, and Paul wrote that we should make every effort to live that way, standing firm- just as Jesus stood firm in his mission.

But what is that way?

Paul was an apostle of Jesus, but he was not one who had followed Jesus and studied with him in Galilee. Instead, he was one who had studied to be a Pharisee, and he was a Pharisee who persecuted Christians- until he met the risen Jesus.

He had spent considerable time in the city of Philippi at some point before sending them this letter, so he could write, “Live according to the pattern we gave you.”

The Philippians knew, because they had seen how he and his associates lived while he was there.

That tells us it’s important how we live as Christians, because others are watching us. But it doesn’t tell us how to live, because we didn’t see it!

If we study the whole letter to the Philippians, we find only one small clue as to something Paul is NOT talking about. He’s not talking about the way he lived as a Pharisee, obeying all the detailed ritual commandments of the Old Testament. In fact, Paul had a little bit of anger for those who encouraged that sort of living among the Philippians.

So how do we live?

Clearly, not “anything goes.”

Certainly, we have argued about what does go- and what stays!

This much we know-scriptures tell us there are ways to live, and ways of sin, that are harmful to us and our neighbors. Our own experience tells us that certain things lead to heartbreak and misery and suffering, and we should avoid them.

Drunkenness, or any sort of chemical dependency, would be one.

Promiscuity would be one.

Bitterness would be one.

Greed would be one.

Meanness, cruelty, abuse- they would be another.

But we know there are more. Paul himself says that some people want too much.

We might add to the list. We might be more specific about the list. We might talk about how to address people who live in those ways.

But I believe we are missing something important because I believe that when Paul mentions living “according to the pattern we gave you,” or when he mentions “citizenship in heaven,” he is talking about something he did, not something he didn’t do.

That “something” may certainly include doing the sorts of things that Jesus did.

It may include feeding the hungry.

It may include forgiving those who have sinned against us.

It may include healing the sick, and comforting the ones who grieve, and sheltering those in need.

It may even include challenging the powers that be!

But I think it must be more than what we do- and what we don’t do. I think it must include HOW we do them, and WHAT we think about in between them, and the NATURE OF OUR HOPE at all times.

A little story by the poet Maya Angelou provides a pattern that we might consider.

She writes, "I'm startled or taken aback when people walk up to me and tell me they are Christians. My first response is the question, 'Already?' It seems to me a lifelong endeavor to try to live the life of a Christian."

Maybe you know what she’s talking about. It’s hard doing those things- or not doing them.

It’s hard talking about forgiveness, and then lifting my voice in anger. It’s hard being chaste, and sober, in BOTH mind and spirit. It’s hard NOT wanting just one more thing. But she goes on to tell a story.

A lifelong believer, in her twenties Maya forgot God. She didn’t stop believing, but in her twenties she became quite sophisticated, and she was living in a community where it was easy to forget.

But she was taking voice lessons, and her teacher, Frederick Wilkerson, made her read out loud a little tract called “Lessons in Truth”.

The section she read ended with the words, “God loves me.”

She closed the book, but Wilkerson asked her to open and read the words again.

“God loves me,” she said sarcastically.

“Read it again,” he commanded.

So she did, again and again, at his insistence.

She writes, “After about the seventh repetition I began to sense that there might be truth in the statement, that there was a possibility that God really did love. Me, Maya Angelou. I suddenly began to cry at the goodness of it all. I knew that if God loved me, then I could do wonderful things, I could try great things, learn anything, achieve anything. For what could stand against me with God, since one person, any person with God, constitutes a majority?”

“That knowledge humbles me,” she writes. “(It) melts my bones, closes my ears, and makes my teeth rock loosely in their gums. And it also liberates me. I am a big bird winging over high mountains, down into serene valleys. I am ripples of waves on silver seas. I am a spring leaf trembling in anticipation.” (“I Wouldn’t Take Anything for My Journey Now”)

Paul had another way of putting it. He wrote to slaves, women, persons of low standing and no distinction. But he called them “Citizens of heaven.”

We have been liberated by the cross. Therefore, let us rejoice, and hold steadfast to the one who died there for us, remembering that we are, indeed, loved.

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.