While we have been making this journey with Jesus, we have
also been struggling in our own wilderness temptation time. We too have been
considering the issues of putting food on the table. We too have been
considering who holds the power and whether our lives matter. We too have been
wondering about our own safety. We have traveled the roads of our time, to the
north and to the south, to the east and to the west. We have heard the stories
of people across our nation—stories of pain and ridicule, stories of unjust
treatment and loss of jobs, stories that claim that our once great nation needs
to become great again, and stories of continued confidence in the American
people and hope for the future.
In both of these times an election has taken place. The
people of first century Palestine chose Jesus Barabbas over Jesus Bar Joseph. We
have elected Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton. Do not misunderstand me. I am
not trying to equate Hillary Clinton with Jesus, our Messiah, nor am I trying
to say that Donald Trump is equal to Barabbas. I am only saying that an election
has taken place.
In both of these times, people have stood around in shock. The
people of Jerusalem those many years ago because of the brutality of the
crucifixion. The people of our time because, Republican or Democrat, no one was
really prepared for the outcome that we have.
Well, the bad news for the people of first century Palestine
was sudden darkness, earthquakes, and the tearing open of the curtain that
separated the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctum wherein it was thought that the
true presence of God resided, from the outer world. The bad news for us today is,
there are some who think that their world has been shaken, that there is a
darkness that is covering their world, and that the constitution will be
gutted. There are a lot of people who
are upset with the decision that was made, and there will be some civil unrest
because of it. The good news is, the people of first century Palestine survived,
and we will get through it too.
This is just to show that there are parallels between what
we read in Scripture and what goes on in our lives. In the midst of these
events, Christ was able to speak words of forgiveness and promise. In a world
of unrest, these words gave people hope, direction and peace
then, and we can find hope, direction, and peace in them today.
For in spite of the elections that took place then and now,
there is another election to consider. It is the election that God chooses to
engage in. This election is not for a particular person over another, but the
election of choosing us to be God’s Good News Proclaimers to the world.
In spite of our sometimes misguided decisions, God chose and
chooses to reveal Godself to us in the person of Jesus Christ. Through his
life, death, and resurrection, God chose and chooses to forgive us, to lift us
up daily when we fall into sinful death producing ways. God chose and chooses
to lift us up from sin into transformative, life giving ways of interacting
with our neighbors. In this time of the resurrection, Jesus chose and chooses to
walk with us on the roads we travel as he walked with the two friends on the
road to Emmaus, revealing himself in the breaking of the bread. Through the
Holy Spirit, we continue to find Christ among us, in our midst, in the cries of
help from our neighbors and in the words of prayers of supplication. We find
Christ’s presence on crowded city streets and in the quiet peace of our fields.
On this day of days, this Christ the King day, we take time
to remember and be reminded that life, not just the day to day life we share in
God’s kingdom now, but LIFE, given to us in Baptism and nurtured and
strengthened at the Lord’s table; that LIFE that can only be truly known in the
fullness of God’s presence in the fullness of God’s kingdom is ours because Christ
first elected, that is, chose us.
In the awesome spectacle of the cross, the pinnacle from
which Jesus viewed the world, he did not succumb to the temptation again. He
chose to forgive even then and even as we continue to not always know what we
are doing. So we say with one of the criminals, “Jesus, remember me when you
come into your kingdom.”
To the surprise of the criminal then and to our surprise yet
today, the promise is, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” With the word,
“today,” we also are reminded of all of the todays in Luke. “Today, a savior is
born to you who is Christ the Lord.” We hear Jesus quoting Isaiah and claiming
his authority on earth, “The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has
anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bring release to
the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.... TODAY this Scripture has been
fulfilled in your hearing.” We hear Jesus’ words to Zacchaeus, “Today,
salvation has come to this house.” With these words of, “Today,” let us join
together, in the strength of that promise of a place of caring and peace, to
work in Christ’s name for God’s kingdom to come, God’s will to be done on earth
as it is in heaven, to make our place in God’s kingdom also a place of caring
and peace; a place that claims and crowns God’s presence as Lord of all.
Thoughts that led me to this place.
As Christ is tempted in the wilderness three times by Satan,
so now on the cross, Jesus is tempted three times to save himself. But Jesus
does not need to be saved. We are the ones who need to be saved and for us,
Jesus resists the temptation.
As Satan challenges Jesus to change the stone into bread, so
now, the soldier tempts Jesus to partake of the sour wine. Yet it is only
through Christ overcoming these temptations that we are able to come to know
the true bread and wine; that we are able to know the body and blood of Christ.
In the wilderness temptations, Jesus is taken to a high
place to see the wonders of the world and tempted by power. On the cross, Jesus
is tempted by power in the soldiers, the symbol of Roman power in the world.
The third wilderness temptation involves the pinnacle of the
temple. Here we witness Jesus on the pinnacle of the cross. Here too, Jesus
does not throw himself down. In the dialog between the criminals we are
reminded that we should not put the Lord our God to the test.
In the four Lucan statements of “today,” we are reminded of
the angels words, “Do not be afraid, for today, a savior ….” In Jesus’ sermon
we are reminded that God’s prophesies are fulfilled. We are told that salvation
comes to the house of the innocent (Zacchaeus), and we hear the proclamation of
the soldier at the cross, “Surely this man was innocent!”
Lastly, the words, “Today, you will be with me in paradise,”
point to a world of “todays” in Christ’s presence and peace, to the new
Jerusalem (city of peace).
Luke 23 tugs at all of the strings from previous passages—from
the unjust judge, from the unrighteous stewards, from the lost sons and
daughters who have gone on their own way. All of this is to prepare us for the
Sunday morning event that will change the world. It is not the cross event that
changes the world, but the cross leads to the event that changes the world.
And yes, Paul’s words echo to us this day. That Christ did
this amazing thing once, for all; for Jew and Greek, male and female, slave and
free, [Muslim and Christian, privileged and oppressed, Republican and Democrat,
LGBTQ and straight, abled and disabled]. Now we only need to determine how
restricted we want “all” to be.
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