I loved the opening paragraph in the exegesis of our morning text that was in Christian Century Magazine in its February 28th edition. It said, ‘If you reach the 12th chapter of John’s Gospel without a firm idea of who Jesus is or how he is supposed to have affected salvation, the text will more or less force you to come up with one.’
And, so for those of us who are still not sure we have a firm idea, listen now for God’s good news as it is found in the 12th chapter of John verses 20-33. (Read gospel lesson)
20 Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
27 “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people[a] to myself.” 33 He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
I confess John is not my favorite Gospel. Written a few decades after Jesus the man walked on earth, to me it seems more like an early theological work on Christology than an account of the life and teachings of Jesus. It was the Gospel writers attempt to say who this man Jesus was and to describe and affirm Christ’s divinity. Its heady stuff, filled with images of light and darkness. God and Christ are the light and bring us to it….Wow!
This passage comes at the end days of Jesus’ life. It takes place after Jesus has been at Mary’s house and right after Palm Sunday and his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. He is there for the first night of the Passover festival which we know will be his last supper. Jesus knows what is about to happen and wants to get across the reason for his death. Some outsiders are present, the author calls them Greeks, but the importance is that they are not his close disciples or even Jews. And they want to see Jesus. And Jesus talks of his death, that his death has a purpose, and that somehow all of it is a part of a plan. Even though his soul is troubled by what is about to happen to him, it is all for a purpose. Then he has this wild statement that ‘Now is the judgement of this world, now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’
This is heady stuff….. So…Do you now have an idea of who Jesus is or how he is supposed to have effected salvation? Do you? Well, it sure isn’t crystal clear to me! One thing I hear loud and clear though is that whatever is being given is being given to all people. It isn’t for a few, it isn’t just for Jesus’ followers, but it is for all. These words create a challenging picture of what Jesus is accomplishing…. Somehow his being ‘lifted up’ which I assume means killed and going to heaven, will create an opening for all people. Is this an invitation for all people or is this a statement that all people, no matter what their belief or background, are welcomed by God.
I will be the first one to say that the events of Maundy Thursday haunt me. I am haunted by Peter denying Jesus three times, I am haunted by his disciples falling asleep when he needed them, and I am haunted by Judas, Jesus’ most faithful disciple, who did what he thought was the right thing and betrayed him. They haunt me as they could be me. Just as every generation must hear the horror of what the Nazi’s did to the Jews because humans did it to other humans, we must also hear the stories of Maundy Thursday knowing that what happened to Jesus could have been done by us. We can’t sit smugly thinking we would have been better disciples when, if we are honest, we know we might have done even worse.
But the events of Good Friday have always disturbed me for quite a different reason and one some of you might share with me or you might think I need to go back to seminary and study some more. I have always been uncomfortable with the notion that somehow God needs to be appeased and placated. The God I know is a God of love and although loves me, I just don’t think that God needs my sacrifice in order to be happy. If I were to believe in a God who responded like that, I fear I would fear God and spend all my tie trying to control this God instead of loving God. That type of God just doesn’t seem like one that is in control and is all love. I mean think about the story of Abraham taking his beloved and only son up the mountain to slay him as a sacrifice to God. Would any of us believe in a God that would require that of us? So, why would Jesus need to be sacrificed for our atonement?
A synagogue in Cleveland has found a wonderful and unique way to raise money. They looked around their congregation and realized that what they had was a lot of lawyers. So, they work with the Law Schools in Cleveland and the courts and have a mock trial each year based on a figure from the Bible. David was taken to trial for the murder of Bathsheba’s husband and one year Abraham was taken to court for the attempted murder of his son. Both sides had attorneys, witnesses, and the case was tried in a courtroom. Tickets were sold to raise money for the synagogue and all costs and refreshments were underwritten by law firms in Cleveland.
The case against Abraham was interesting as it related to the theology of God. Was God a God that demands retributive justice? Does God need payment from us? What happened to the idea of restorative justice taught by the prophets and by Jesus? Where was the God of love? All that was presented in the court room was a God who demanded sacrifice and unquestioning devotion and compliance with rules and God’s authority. This type of god might be the same god that would kill his only son as a payment for our sins. This God might demand Jesus to be a blood sacrifice to atone for sinful and base humanity…. No thank you! This Good Friday statement just does not sit right with me…. I admit I am a sinner, but I don’t want to follow a God who would kill their son to save me. I want one who loves and forgives, doesn’t demand a payment. This theology of Good Friday just doesn’t make sense.
But then I read something this winter which freed me from my struggle. I know that several of the members of this church subscribe to Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation. Rohr is a progressive Franciscan Catholic Priest and mystic who has a daily blog. Well, last January he posted a blog titled At-One-Ment, Not Atonement’. I have read all the stuff written by modern theologians about at-one-ment and much of it sounded like a cop-out. But this blog made sense! Rohr said that the understanding that Jesus had to die to pay a debt for us was common in the first millennium and Anslem of Canterbury made it a part of the doctrine of the church when he talked about paying a debt to God. But that was not the only understanding. There also has always been another theological strain that believed that Jesus did not come to change the mind of God about humanity (it did not need changing). This other view states that Jesus came to change the mind of humanity about God.
What if the miracle of Good Friday was that God suffered with us? What if the miracle is that God loves us in spite of our killing his son. What if it was to teach us that God feels our pain and that there is nothing we can say or do, even killing Jesus, even if we try and wipe out races of people, even if we go into schools and shoot innocent children…. that even the most horrific acts we could do would not stop our God from loving us. This is a mind blowing statement. This is a freeing and positive way to live. To believe this is shattering! To believe this would have taken away the power of the authorities and power of the church for the past 20 centuries. This way of thinking means that God in Jesus moved people beyond the retribution for our sins and punishing model to belief in God who Loves all, forgives all, and a world in which all know of God’s mercy and grace and unconditional love. And this is the God I know and worship. This is the God I wish to model my life and my discipleship.
This changes EVERYTHING! Change the starting point…. That God loves us… and you change the trajectory and the final goal. You see, love is the beginning, the way itself, and the final consummation. As Rohr put it so well, ‘God does not love us because we are good; God loves us because God is good. Nothing we do will either decrease or increase God’s eternal and infinite eagerness to love!’ Amen!