Living & Dying with God

Mark 11: 1-11 & Mark 15: 1-39

April  9, 2017

Roger Lynn

Palm / Passion Sunday

(click here for the audio for this sermon)

Today we enter the final week in the season of Lent – often called “Holy Week.” It is a time when the Church pays particular attention to the final days of Jesus’ life, from the entry into Jerusalem to the last supper in the upper room, to the praying in the garden, to the arrest, to the execution, to the burial, to the resurrection. From the very beginning, those who have called themselves followers of Christ have sought to find meaning in these events. Each of the four Gospels contained in our New Testament offer their own unique perspective on what meaning can be found here, to say nothing of the countless theologians, scholars and ordinary folk down through the years. There has never been one single consensus on what this all means or even where to put the emphasis. Different people and different communities have lifted up different themes and reached different conclusions. One reminder of this reality came several years ago, with the announcement of the discovery of a third century document known as the Gospel of Judas – a Gnostic Gospel which portrays Judas as the most faithful of all the disciples. Exploring all of the implications of such a document would require considerably more time than we have available to us this morning. I mention it simply to point out that there are a wide variety of ways in which the life of Jesus can be understood. Meaning is not limited to one particular interpretation. Indeed, faith requires a certain degree of humility. I believe it is always healthy to follow up even our most ardent convictions with the confession that “then again, I could be wrong.”

I say all of this as preparation for looking at this final week of Jesus’ life. One of the things which has happened in the Church over the years is that we have often gotten “stuck” focusing on the death of Jesus. We cannot ignore it, nor would we want to. But neither is the meaning as clear and one-dimensional as some would have us believe. “Jesus died for our sins.” First of all, even if you want to claim that this statement is true, there are more ways to unpack it and understand what it means than can be contained in a very large book. It is by no means a simple statement. And then there are many thoughtful and faithful people who have real problems with the statement, however it is unpacked – from what it has to say about us to what it has to say about God. I would simply remind you that there is more than one way to faithfully understand Jesus’ death, and there is more to understanding Jesus’ life than just his death. As we look at these last days in his life, what meaning can we find that can be applied to our own living?

One of the powerful lessons I believe we can learn from following Jesus is dramatically illustrated in his final days. To his very last breath Jesus sought to be fully alive and fully open to the presence of God. From the very beginning of his ministry he is in love with life. He grabs hold of it with both hands. He savors it. He immerses himself in it fully and completely. And he seeks to share that passion for living with everyone he meets. “The reign of God is now! Pay attention!” Wherever he encounters systems and understandings which deny life and encourage death, he challenges them. Wherever he finds brokenness and suffering and pain, he seeks to bring healing and wholeness and relief. “I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10) And at the heart of this love of life we find an unwavering awareness of God’s presence. For Jesus it is this awareness of God in every moment of every day that fills life with rich, meaningful purpose.

And it is this awareness of God that sees him through even the darkness of his final days. In a very important sense nothing changes. He lives his last days in the same way in which he lived all of his days – filled with a sense of Sacred Presence. One of the resources which he would have had at his disposal from which to draw strength was a fluency in the Psalms. In those final hours when the storm clouds were gathering and his whole world seemed to turn upside down, he may very well have reflected on Psalm 31, which says, in part:

Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;

my eye wastes away from grief, my soul and body also. 

For my life is spent with sorrow,

and my years with sighing;

my strength fails because of my misery,

and my bones waste away. 

I am the scorn of all my adversaries, a horror to my neighbors,

an object of dread to my acquaintances;

those who see me in the street flee from me. 

I have passed out of mind like one who is dead;

I have become like a broken vessel. 

For I hear the whispering of many –

terror all around! –

as they scheme together against me,

as they plot to take my life. 

And what saw both the psalmist and Jesus through such experiences was a lifetime of paying attention to what is always true – God’s presence. For you see, the psalm acknowledges the shadow side of life, but it does not stop there. The psalm continues: 

But I trust in you, O Lord;

I say, “You are my God.” 

My times are in your hand;

deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors. 

Let your face shine upon your servant;

save me in your steadfast love.

In our own living (including our dying) we have a choice. We can face it on our own, believing that the shadows hold the final word. Or we can remember that we are, in fact, never alone, and the shadows never hold the final word. We can sink into despair like Shakespeare’s Macbeth:

“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,

To the last syllable of recorded time;

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player,

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,

And then is heard no more: it is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.”

--From Macbeth (Act 5) by William Shakespeare

Or we can accept the gift which Jesus offers us in both his living and his dying – his unwavering certainty that we are always and forever surrounded, supported, and sustained by God’s love and grace and presence. When we can begin to see that both our living and our dying occur within the larger reality of God, then we will be able to truly follow where Jesus leads us – which is into a life that is fully, richly, deeply lived to our very last breath. May we be faithful like that!