Year A
\u00a0Isaiah 52:13-53:12
\u00a0Psalm 22
\u00a0Hebrews 10:16-25
\u00a0John 18:1-19:42
May the words of my mouth O God\u2026\u00a0 speak your truth…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Year after year\u2026 during Holy Week\u2026 we read the Passion Narratives about Jesus\u2019 betrayal and last day\u2026 in some small way\u2026 we may identify with his suffering\u2026 because we have all suffered\u2026 ] in some small way\u2026 we may consider how like Peter\u2026 we have denied Christ\u2026 and in some significant ways\u2026 we may resist relying fully on God\u2026 so that if God doesn’t give us what we want\u2026 we can just get it for ourselves thank you\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In our Passion reading\u2026 we wrestle with an avalanche of anti-Jewish sentiment that has been building for almost two thousand years\u2026 and which has found mis-guided expression over the last few years\u2026 in attacks on Jews\u2026 and in synagogue shootings\u2026 an avalanche of blame which holds Jews responsible for Jesus\u2019 death\u2026 and which has fueled more horrific violence than our knowing hearts could bear\u2026 why\u2026 in third grade\u2026 one of my classmates pointed his finger at me and said\u2026 YOU KILLED JESUS\u2026 one wonders what he heard in church or at home\u2026 but buried deep in that blame\u2026 there’s an unwillingness to be vulnerable\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In one of her TED talks on vulnerability\u2026 Bren\u00e9 Brown said that religion has moved from faith and mystery\u2026 to certainty\u2026 all so we can avoid vulnerability\u2026 because the more afraid we are\u2026 the more vulnerable we become\u2026 and when we’re really afraid\u2026 that’s when fear can turn into blame\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brown explains that blame is a way for us to release pain and discomfort\u2026 so if I can blame you for something\u2026 like killing Jesus\u2026 I can feel superior\u2026 more confident about myself and my opinions\u2026 and in addition to the false notion that it was Judaism as a whole which crucified Jesus\u2026 or as my classmate claimed\u2026 that I did\u2026 there’s the historic understanding that Jesus died for our sins\u2026 to pay a debt to the Father\u2026 an idea developed by St. Anselm of Canterbury\u2026 and this understanding is connected to the notion of original sin\u2026 ] but the concept of original sin\u2026 which was developed in the 4th century\u2026 didn\u2019t become official church doctrine until it was adopted by the Council of Trent in the 16th century\u2026 and it’s to be found nowhere in the Bible\u2026 let’s remember that in Genesis 1:31\u2026 God saw all that God had made… and it was very good<\/em>\u2026 yet some of the hymns we sing\u2026 and the words we speak\u2026 perpetuate these notions\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n But there’s another widely-supported perspective which warrants some consideration\u2026 the Franciscan philosopher and theologian John Duns Scotus\u2026 disagreed with the understandings of original sin\u2026 and substitutionary atonement theology\u2026 Scotus wasn’t formed by the Jerusalem Temple\u2019s language of debt\u2026 or blood sacrifice\u2026 instead\u2026 he was inspired by the high-level cosmic hymns in the first chapters of Colossians and Ephesians\u2026 and those in the first chapter of John’s Gospel\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ironically\u2026 since Anselm\u2026 many Christians have embraced the idea that before God could love us\u2026 God needed Jesus to be a blood sacrifice to atone for our broken humanity\u2026 and with that view\u2026 salvation depends on a problem\u2026 instead of on a prior proclamation about the basic nature of reality\u2026 as if a God who created everything\u2026 could need a payment\u2026 no less a violent one\u2026 before being able to love and accept God\u2019s own children\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Scotus\u2026 God\u2019s incarnation and the world\u2019s redemption could only be\u2026 the proactive work of God from the very beginning\u2026 the hymn in Ephesians 1:4-5 sings that\u2026 God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world\u2026 to be holy and blameless before him in love\u2026 and he destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ\u2026 according to the good pleasure of his will<\/em>… ] and consistent with this\u2026 only God’s perfect love and desire to reveal God\u2019s self to us\u2026 could have motivated the incarnation\u2026 and not the need to forgive our sins\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And so\u2026 Scotus believed\u2026 Jesus didn’t come to change God’s mind about us\u2026 but to change our minds about God\u2026 and to help us do that\u2026 Jesus moved people beyond the counting and weighing models that our egos prefer\u2026] Jesus undid once and for all\u2026 the notions of human and animal sacrifice\u2026 and replaced them with a new economy of grace\u2026 a new economy of unity\u2026 which is at the very heart of the Gospel\u2019s revolution\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chaplain David Keck wrote that the Gospel text is full of people who are certain of themselves\u2026 or who put on a show of being certain\u2026 and that Jesus was meant to be a game changer for the human psyche\u2026 and for religion itself\u2026 ] they were certain that entering the Roman headquarters would defile a devout Jew\u2026 yet handing the Word of God over to death did not\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because when we remain focused on sin\u2026 we fail to see that Jesus was pointing us toward God\u2019s solidarity with all of creation’s vulnerability and suffering\u2026 and this really changes everything\u2026 because it challenges the notions of power and certainty in which we are drowning… all we have to do is look at the mass shootings which plague our country\u2026 shootings which are the leading cause of death among America’s children\u2026 and our corporate failure to do enough to stop them\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And this can open us up to a new starting point\u2026 because if we change the starting point\u2026 we can change the trajectory\u2026 if we understand that Jesus died to show us what love in action looks like\u2026 then all we need to know is that God does not love us because we are good\u2026 God loves us because God is good\u2026 and there\u2019s nothing we can do in God’s eternal eagerness to love us\u2026 that could make God love us more\u2026 and there’s nothing we could do to make God love us less\u2026 Fr. Richard Rohr believes that the crosses we bear\u2026 are the burdens of our own experiences\u2026 so as we begin to move out of Lent\u2026 as we move beyond blame and certainty\u2026 as we embrace God\u2019s Mystery and love\u2026 let’s be increasingly responsible for removing the logs in our own eyes\u2026 and healing our own various wounds\u2026 and considering our own Passions\u2026 which have already been redeemed by God’s love\u2026 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year A\u00a0Isaiah 52:13-53:12\u00a0Psalm 22\u00a0Hebrews 10:16-25\u00a0John 18:1-19:42May the words of my mouth O God\u2026\u00a0 speak your truth… Year after year\u2026 during Holy Week\u2026 we read the Passion Narratives about Jesus\u2019 betrayal and last day\u2026 in some small way\u2026 we may identify with his suffering\u2026 because we have all suffered\u2026 ] in some small way\u2026 we may consider how like Peter\u2026 we have denied Christ\u2026 and in some significant ways\u2026 we may resist relying fully on God\u2026 so that if God doesn’t give us what we want\u2026 we can just get it for ourselves thank you\u2026 In our Passion reading\u2026 we wrestle with an avalanche of anti-Jewish sentiment that has been building for almost two thousand years\u2026 and which has found mis-guided expression over the last few years\u2026 in attacks on Jews\u2026 and in synagogue shootings\u2026 an avalanche of blame which holds Jews responsible for Jesus\u2019 death\u2026 and which has fueled more horrific violence than our knowing hearts could bear\u2026 why\u2026 in third grade\u2026 one of my classmates pointed his finger at me and said\u2026 YOU KILLED JESUS\u2026 one wonders what he heard in church or at home\u2026 but buried deep in that blame\u2026 there’s an unwillingness to be vulnerable\u2026 In one of her TED talks on vulnerability\u2026 Bren\u00e9 Brown said that religion has moved from faith and mystery\u2026 to certainty\u2026 all so we can avoid vulnerability\u2026 because the more afraid we are\u2026 the more vulnerable we become\u2026 and when we’re really afraid\u2026 that’s when fear can turn into blame\u2026 Brown explains that blame is a way for us to release pain and discomfort\u2026 so if I can blame you for something\u2026 like killing Jesus\u2026 I can feel superior\u2026 more confident about myself and my opinions\u2026 and in addition to the false notion that it was Judaism as a whole which crucified Jesus\u2026 or as my classmate claimed\u2026 that I did\u2026 there’s the historic understanding that Jesus died for our sins\u2026 to pay a debt to the Father\u2026 an idea developed by St. Anselm of Canterbury\u2026 and this understanding is connected to the notion of original sin\u2026 ] but the concept of original sin\u2026 which was developed in the 4th century\u2026 didn\u2019t become official church doctrine until it was adopted by the Council of Trent in the 16th century\u2026 and it’s to be found nowhere in the Bible\u2026 let’s remember that in Genesis 1:31\u2026 God saw all that God had made… and it was very good\u2026 yet some of the hymns we sing\u2026 and the words we speak\u2026 perpetuate these notions\u2026 But there’s another widely-supported perspective which warrants some consideration\u2026 the Franciscan philosopher and theologian John Duns Scotus\u2026 disagreed with the understandings of original sin\u2026 and substitutionary atonement theology\u2026 Scotus wasn’t formed by the Jerusalem Temple\u2019s language of debt\u2026 or blood sacrifice\u2026 instead\u2026 he was inspired by the high-level cosmic hymns in the first chapters of Colossians and Ephesians\u2026 and those in the first chapter of John’s Gospel\u2026 Ironically\u2026 since Anselm\u2026 many Christians have embraced the idea that before God could love us\u2026 God needed Jesus to be a blood sacrifice to atone for our broken humanity\u2026 and with that view\u2026 salvation depends on a problem\u2026 instead of on a prior proclamation about the basic nature of reality\u2026 as if a God who created everything\u2026 could need a payment\u2026 no less a violent one\u2026 before being able to love and accept God\u2019s own children\u2026 For Scotus\u2026 God\u2019s incarnation and the world\u2019s redemption could only be\u2026 the proactive work of God from the very beginning\u2026 the hymn in Ephesians 1:4-5 sings that\u2026 God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world\u2026 to be holy and blameless before him in love\u2026 and he destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ\u2026 according to the good pleasure of his will… ] and consistent with this\u2026 only God’s perfect love and desire to reveal God\u2019s self to us\u2026 could have motivated the incarnation\u2026 and not the need to forgive our sins\u2026 And so\u2026 Scotus believed\u2026 Jesus didn’t come to change God’s mind about us\u2026 but to change our minds about God\u2026 and to help us do that\u2026 Jesus moved people beyond the counting and weighing models that our egos prefer\u2026] Jesus undid once and for all\u2026 the notions of human and animal sacrifice\u2026 and replaced them with a new economy of grace\u2026 a new economy of unity\u2026 which is at the very heart of the Gospel\u2019s revolution\u2026 Chaplain David Keck wrote that the Gospel text is full of people who are certain of themselves\u2026 or who put on a show of being certain\u2026 and that Jesus was meant to be a game changer for the human psyche\u2026 and for religion itself\u2026 ] they were certain that entering the Roman headquarters would defile a devout Jew\u2026 yet handing the Word of God over to death did not\u2026 Because when we remain focused on sin\u2026 we fail to see that Jesus was pointing us toward God\u2019s solidarity with all of creation’s vulnerability and suffering\u2026 and this really changes everything\u2026 because it challenges the notions of power and certainty in which we are drowning… all we have to do is look at the mass shootings which plague our country\u2026 shootings which are the leading cause of death among America’s children\u2026 and our corporate failure to do enough to stop them\u2026 And this can open us up to a new starting point\u2026 because if we change the starting point\u2026 we can change the trajectory\u2026 if we understand that Jesus died to show us what love in action looks like\u2026 then all we need to know is that God does not love us because we are good\u2026 God loves us because God is good\u2026 and there\u2019s nothing we can do in God’s eternal eagerness to love us\u2026 that could make God love us more\u2026 and there’s nothing we could do to make God love us less\u2026 Fr. Richard Rohr believes that the crosses we bear\u2026 are the burdens of our own experiences\u2026 so as we begin to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2022,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[48,238],"class_list":["post-2020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermons","tag-gods-love","tag-good-friday"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Good-Friday-Meditation.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2020"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2021,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020\/revisions\/2021"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}