No, I am not turning this bible study into a crafters' blog, there is another reason for the title this week. Hang on and I'll get to it. This Lenten Season Aldersgate is reflecting on the Cross. Our gospel readings will encompass the seven last words that Jesus spoke from the cross as recorded in all four gospels. Plus, since there are seven last words and 5 Sundays in Lent we have to combine a couple of them so I've changed the order a little bit.
Week 1 Father Forgive March 13, 2011 Luke 23:32-38
Week 2 Today March 20, 2011 Luke 23:39-43
Week 3 Behold, thy Son / I Thirst March 27, 2011 John 19:26-29
Week 4 My God, My God April 3, 2011 Matthew 27:45-49
Week 5 Finished / Into Thy Hands April 10, 2011 John 19:30 & Luke 23:46-49
Then, of course will be Palm/Passion Sunday with a presentation of the whole passion story from the Gospel of Luke.
OK, so, here we go. And if you want another source for some of the ideas that I will express here, please pick up Bishop William Willimon's book "Thank God It's Friday." That book is what convinced me that I needed to follow this plan for our Lenten examination this year. It is a wonderful and inspiring look at the words from the cross.
Now, we are ready. I hope.
Luke 23:32-38 Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. 33 When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34 Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35 And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah1 of God, his chosen one!" 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, 37 and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" 38 There was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews."
One of the first observations to make about these words is that there has been considerable debate as to whether Jesus actually prayed this prayer from the cross at all. Some of the oldest manuscripts do not have these words recorded, which lead many to believe that it was a later addition. Some even go so far as to argue that the purpose of addition was to ease the blame off of Rome so that the Christians wouldn't seem to be a threat to the empire. Others argue that the addition was an attempt to avoid the centuries of anti-Semitism that grew up in the church.
The effectiveness of the former could be debated, I suppose, but the perhaps laudable goal of the latter was in no way even approached. It could even be argued that in the early days of Christendom that it was the depiction of the passion story as a whole the brought forth the shameful excesses of anti-Semitism that still persist even today.
Which brings us back to these words, this first word from the cross. It is interesting to me that this first word is not a word to us, it is a word to God. Jesus still has much to tell us, much to pass on to us even with his dying breaths. But he uses this first word to intercede for us yet again. "Father, Forgive them, they don't know what they are doing."
It is not an easy word to hear, or to overhear in this case. Not easy because knowledge is so important to us. "Know thyself" said one of humanity's greatest philosophers. We strive after knowledge. We live in an information age. We grow to the age of understanding. We confer degrees of knowledge upon one another. We pride ourselves with our intelligence quotient.
Yet when push comes to shove, when life bumps up against death, when meaning stands before us, salvation is offered us, love reaches to embrace us, we need to be forgiven because we don't know what we are doing.
In the story of the Prodigal Son, Jesus tells us that the wanton behavior or the prodigal, the loose living, the slap against parental authority, the self-centered, self-seeking sinfulness is not really
who we are. It is a madness of sorts, an unknowing. The turn about phrase in the midst of the story is "when he came to himself." If he only knew from the beginning who he really was; if he only knew his own soul and his own mind, then his life would have been different. If he only knew.
Father forgive them, they don't know. Jesus came, some argue, to show us God. And in showing us God he showed us ourselves. In other words, Jesus came so that we would know what we were doing. And yet as he died he prayed to God to forgive us because we didn't get it. We didn't know.
He could have washed his hands of us at that moment. In an odd way that is what the taunters were asking for. Walk away from us Jesus, show us your power by taking care of your own skin. That selfishness we know, we understand that. Because we live it every day. It is this sacrifice that we don't know. It is this dying that we don't understand. Give up on us and then we would know that you were right, that you did have the power, that you were who you said you were. But then it would have been too late. And we would have been lost.
Jesus didn't give up on us. He began his dying by trying to help us live. Father, forgive them. From the cross Jesus was trying to get us back or keep us in right relationship with God. Forgive them. Heal them. Hold them. Gather them up. Stitch them back together.
That was the function of this word from the cross, to stitch us back into relationship with God. Even though our actions seemed to say that we didn't want to be there. Even though our words implied that we wanted nothing to do with God or with salvation or with hope for living. The thing is, we didn't know what we were doing.
I can't argue for the historical accuracy of these words from the cross. What I can argue for is the theological veracity of them. I have no doubt in my mind that Jesus died as he lived trying to stitch us back together. Even as he was unraveling, even as the world was unraveling on that dark day on Calvary, his intent, his desire was to put us back together with God. To heal the breach, by stretching his own broken body across the gap. To stop the hemorrhage by pouring his own blood into wounds we inflict on ourselves. Cross stitching.
Week 1 Father Forgive March 13, 2011 Luke 23:32-38
Week 2 Today March 20, 2011 Luke 23:39-43
Week 3 Behold, thy Son / I Thirst March 27, 2011 John 19:26-29
Week 4 My God, My God April 3, 2011 Matthew 27:45-49
Week 5 Finished / Into Thy Hands April 10, 2011 John 19:30 & Luke 23:46-49
Then, of course will be Palm/Passion Sunday with a presentation of the whole passion story from the Gospel of Luke.
OK, so, here we go. And if you want another source for some of the ideas that I will express here, please pick up Bishop William Willimon's book "Thank God It's Friday." That book is what convinced me that I needed to follow this plan for our Lenten examination this year. It is a wonderful and inspiring look at the words from the cross.
Now, we are ready. I hope.
Luke 23:32-38 Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. 33 When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34 Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35 And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah1 of God, his chosen one!" 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, 37 and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" 38 There was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews."
One of the first observations to make about these words is that there has been considerable debate as to whether Jesus actually prayed this prayer from the cross at all. Some of the oldest manuscripts do not have these words recorded, which lead many to believe that it was a later addition. Some even go so far as to argue that the purpose of addition was to ease the blame off of Rome so that the Christians wouldn't seem to be a threat to the empire. Others argue that the addition was an attempt to avoid the centuries of anti-Semitism that grew up in the church.
The effectiveness of the former could be debated, I suppose, but the perhaps laudable goal of the latter was in no way even approached. It could even be argued that in the early days of Christendom that it was the depiction of the passion story as a whole the brought forth the shameful excesses of anti-Semitism that still persist even today.
Which brings us back to these words, this first word from the cross. It is interesting to me that this first word is not a word to us, it is a word to God. Jesus still has much to tell us, much to pass on to us even with his dying breaths. But he uses this first word to intercede for us yet again. "Father, Forgive them, they don't know what they are doing."
It is not an easy word to hear, or to overhear in this case. Not easy because knowledge is so important to us. "Know thyself" said one of humanity's greatest philosophers. We strive after knowledge. We live in an information age. We grow to the age of understanding. We confer degrees of knowledge upon one another. We pride ourselves with our intelligence quotient.
Yet when push comes to shove, when life bumps up against death, when meaning stands before us, salvation is offered us, love reaches to embrace us, we need to be forgiven because we don't know what we are doing.
In the story of the Prodigal Son, Jesus tells us that the wanton behavior or the prodigal, the loose living, the slap against parental authority, the self-centered, self-seeking sinfulness is not really
who we are. It is a madness of sorts, an unknowing. The turn about phrase in the midst of the story is "when he came to himself." If he only knew from the beginning who he really was; if he only knew his own soul and his own mind, then his life would have been different. If he only knew.
Father forgive them, they don't know. Jesus came, some argue, to show us God. And in showing us God he showed us ourselves. In other words, Jesus came so that we would know what we were doing. And yet as he died he prayed to God to forgive us because we didn't get it. We didn't know.
He could have washed his hands of us at that moment. In an odd way that is what the taunters were asking for. Walk away from us Jesus, show us your power by taking care of your own skin. That selfishness we know, we understand that. Because we live it every day. It is this sacrifice that we don't know. It is this dying that we don't understand. Give up on us and then we would know that you were right, that you did have the power, that you were who you said you were. But then it would have been too late. And we would have been lost.
Jesus didn't give up on us. He began his dying by trying to help us live. Father, forgive them. From the cross Jesus was trying to get us back or keep us in right relationship with God. Forgive them. Heal them. Hold them. Gather them up. Stitch them back together.
That was the function of this word from the cross, to stitch us back into relationship with God. Even though our actions seemed to say that we didn't want to be there. Even though our words implied that we wanted nothing to do with God or with salvation or with hope for living. The thing is, we didn't know what we were doing.
I can't argue for the historical accuracy of these words from the cross. What I can argue for is the theological veracity of them. I have no doubt in my mind that Jesus died as he lived trying to stitch us back together. Even as he was unraveling, even as the world was unraveling on that dark day on Calvary, his intent, his desire was to put us back together with God. To heal the breach, by stretching his own broken body across the gap. To stop the hemorrhage by pouring his own blood into wounds we inflict on ourselves. Cross stitching.
Father forgive them, they don't know what they are doing.
Amen.
Shalom,
Derek
No comments:
Post a Comment