Luke
23:33-43
God’s way is different. It is different from anything we can
understand or relate to. Throughout our religious history, God has been trying
to tell us this. Don’t do it like
that. Do it with love, do it with
forgiveness and compassion and the courage to care for everyone – even those
who don’t care for us, even our enemies, even those who hate us. We didn’t listen when the prophets told us
this, and when we could not live it based on what God said to us through
scriptures and stories and people and history, finally Jesus came. God sent Jesus to show us this other way, this
different way. Jesus came, the ultimate
king, who acts nothing like we expect or understand rulers or leaders to
behave. He doesn’t walk around with body
guards protecting his every step. He doesn’t
insist on taking from the poor to feed himself or his family or his profession
or the services he offers us. He doesn’t
build a strong defense system or walls. He doesn’t push anyone out, push anyone
away. He shows us something very, VERY different. He feeds anyone who comes to him hungry. He heals anyone who comes to him sick (and
sometimes even dead such as Talitha and Lazurus). He listens and allows even the most rejected,
the least “acceptable”, the least “worthy” to physically touch him. He includes children, women, people of
different nationalities and backgrounds such as the Syrophoenicians and the
Samaritans, he includes tax collectors and prostitutes. He doesn’t reject them because they aren’t
“the chosen ones” or part of his nation, or part of what we deem
acceptable. He doesn’t take their wealth
and live in a big mansion. He lives
poorly, simply, and asks for nothing in return.
He relies on the kindness of strangers and does not worry about his own
survival or well-being. He leads with
TRUTH rather than threats or bribery.
And when THIS king, this king that
we cannot understand, this king who acts completely differently from what we
want or expect or demand from our human rulers, when this king is killed, as of
course he would be for teaching such a radical, outrageous, different way of
being; this king still, on the cross, in his dying moments, behaves completely
differently from any king we can imagine.
He doesn’t send for his troops to rescue him. He doesn’t call for war or seek violence or revenge
in any way. He doesn’t threaten to end or
kill or even incarcerate or punish those who did this to him. He doesn’t shout out “you will be sorry”, “You
will pay for this”, and he doesn’t fight back. He does not jump off the cross
to save himself, despite the pain, and the inevitable death that he faces. He does not “negotiate” or play
politics. He does not play numbers games,
he does not lie, he does not try to scare everyone or do what would inevitably
boost his popularity.
Instead, as he hangs there on the
cross, as he dies, as he suffers the deepest pain, he continues to think about
others, others who are suffering. And
again, it isn’t the “good” people he worries about in that moment. It isn’t
those who support him, those who love him, those who are kind to him. It isn’t those who believe in him or who send
money to his cause. It is anyone, anyone at all who is suffering. He is hanging on the cross next to two people
who have done wrong, who are being killed as criminals for some atrocity or
another. Maybe they were both
murderers. Maybe they killed
children. We aren’t told. What we are told is that in that moment Jesus
doesn’t ask. He doesn’t care what they
have done. What he cares about is that
they are scared and suffering. And in
that moment, this king, who does not “rescue” them or himself, even when he is
goaded on to do so, instead, in that moment, as he suffers, hanging on the
cross – he offers to the criminal crucified next to him the promise of
paradise. He reaches out with the
strength of knowledge and love that goes beyond any personal suffering, and he
offers life beyond life to the scared and dying person next to him. He also prays. And his prayer, too, is not the prayer we
would hear out of the mouths of earthly leaders. It is not a prayer for victory. It is not a prayer of revenge. It isn’t a prayer of “show those people what
they’ve done!” His prayer is not one of
anger or hate. Instead, he asks God to
forgive the people who are torturing him to his death.
This is the man who shows us who
God is. He lives life following God to
the fullest, and he pays for it with death, a death he accepts even while he
loves and cares for those around him, even those whom, like this criminal next
to him, we would probably not deem worthy of that love or care.
This is the man who shows us who
God is. More, this is the man who calls
us to go and do likewise. Can we be so
forgiving? Can we put aside our need for
vengeance, for revenge? Can we put aside
anger and hate? Can we put aside our
need for others who have hurt us to hurt as well? God shows us what to do. Jesus shows us what leads us into life. All we have to do…all we have to do…is choose
love.
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