(A reflection on Matthew 27:37-54. This post appeared originally at Coracle, the blog of Next Sunday Resources.)
When the devil tested Jesus in the wilderness, he introduced two of his three challenges with, “If you are the Son of God” (Mt 4:3, 6). In refusing the devil’s challenges, Jesus declined to prove his identity on the devil’s terms. To do so would have been to abandon the mission he had as the Son of God. To do so would have been to deny his identity as the Son of God. To do so would have been to claim the victory without going through the battle.
That was at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Now he is at its end.
Now Jesus hangs on the cross. He is dying. Now it isn’t the devil challenging him, but people. Passersby use the same words the devil used as they challenge Jesus to prove his identity: “If you are the Son of God.” He can prove it, they say, if he will “come down from the cross” (v. 40). Some of the religious leaders say a similar thing: “He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he wants to; for he said, ‘I am God’s Son’” (v. 43).
But Jesus doesn’t come down from the cross. He doesn’t because to do so would be to abandon the mission he has as the Son of God. To do so would be to deny his identity as the Son of God. Ironically, he proves he is the Son of God by staying on the cross. He proves he is the Son of God by dying.
Jesus was (and is) the Son of God. Would Jesus have still been the Son of God had he come down from the cross? Yes, but he would not have been the Son of God he was supposed to be. He would not have done what the Son of God was supposed to do. To be who he was as the Son of God, Jesus had to stay on the cross.
I think a lot these days—all days, really—about what it means to follow Jesus. When we trust in Jesus as our Savior, we commit to following him. We become Jesus’ sisters and brothers. We become children of God.
Whether we realize it or not, we are also challenged with the words “If you are a child of God…” We are constantly tempted to prove we are God’s children by thinking and acting in ways that run counter to what it means to be God’s children.
Jesus was (and is) the Son of God. He proved his identity by entering into our suffering and thereby overcoming it. We benefit from his death on the cross. As his sisters and brothers, as his followers, as his fellow children of God, we also participate in his death on the cross.
During these days of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are called to live as children of God. We are called to enter into the world’s suffering so as to contribute to its redemption. Some pastors and Christians hear the world’s (and maybe the devil’s) taunts: “If you are the children of God, keep having public gatherings to prove that God will protect you from the virus.” Here’s one of many problems with that kind of thinking and living: it isn’t redemptive. It doesn’t help deal with the problem of the virus.
Jesus couldn’t come down from the cross because to do so wouldn’t have been redemptive. It wouldn’t have contributed to the defeat of sin and death. It would have ignored, avoided, and perpetuated the problem. Jesus defeated death by entering into it and thereby destroying it from the inside out.
If we could contribute to stopping the virus by gathering to worship, that would be the appropriate thing to do. But we can’t. If we insist on gathering, we contribute to COVID-19’s spread, not to its curtailment.
We can’t help stop the virus by getting sick ourselves and thereby joining our lives to those who are suffering with the disease.
We can only contribute to stopping the virus by joining in what the world is going through by staying at home.
Jesus defeated death by dying on the cross. We’ll help defeat COVID-19 by dying to arrogance, to ignorance, and to presumption. We’ll help defeat it by living in humility, knowledge, and trust.
Jesus saved us from sin, judgment, and death by staying on the cross. That’s how he showed that he was (and is) God’s Son.
We can help save people from sickness and death by staying home. That’s how we can show that we are God’s children and Jesus’ sisters and brothers.
Sunday, March 29, 2020
Sunday, March 22, 2020
A Prayer for Use in On-Line Worship During the COVID-19 Crisis
O God,
We know you see us wherever we are. We know you are with us wherever we are. We know you love us wherever we are.
Today, many of us are in our homes, doing what we can to protect ourselves and others from the COVID-19 illness caused by the coronavirus. Some of us are at work, doing all we can to make sure people have life’s necessities during this challenging time. Others of us are serving in our roles as medical professionals, testing people with symptoms and tending to those who have COVID-19 or other illnesses.
Thank you for the opportunities we have to serve each other, both those we know and those we don’t know, during this time, whether we help by doing something or by doing nothing. Use our active and passive contributions to stem the tide of this illness.
In these difficult days, give our leaders wisdom to lead us in the right ways. Give our scientists wisdom to develop an effective vaccine and to identity effective treatments for the disease. Give our doctors and nurses wisdom to know how best to help those in their care. Give our ministers wisdom to strengthen our spirits, to encourage us to think of others, and to guide our churches to make sound decisions. Give all of us wisdom to follow the advice of experts who are trying to teach us how to protect ourselves and others.
Protect those whose necessary service puts them at risk. Protect those who are especially vulnerable to the coronavirus. Protect us all.
O God, we need protection from threats other than the virus. Please protect us from excessive fear, from selfishness, and from apathy. Protect us from ways of thinking, talking, and acting that indicate racism, classism, or other sinful assumptions and perspectives.
Fill us to overflowing with your love, your grace, your mercy, and your peace, so that they pour out of us and on to others.
O God, we are not together today. And yet we are together. We are together because your love, your Spirit, and our fellowship bind us even we are apart. We are together in you.
As your scattered yet united people, we praise your name, ask for your help, and seek your will.
In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord we pray,
Amen.
We know you see us wherever we are. We know you are with us wherever we are. We know you love us wherever we are.
Today, many of us are in our homes, doing what we can to protect ourselves and others from the COVID-19 illness caused by the coronavirus. Some of us are at work, doing all we can to make sure people have life’s necessities during this challenging time. Others of us are serving in our roles as medical professionals, testing people with symptoms and tending to those who have COVID-19 or other illnesses.
Thank you for the opportunities we have to serve each other, both those we know and those we don’t know, during this time, whether we help by doing something or by doing nothing. Use our active and passive contributions to stem the tide of this illness.
In these difficult days, give our leaders wisdom to lead us in the right ways. Give our scientists wisdom to develop an effective vaccine and to identity effective treatments for the disease. Give our doctors and nurses wisdom to know how best to help those in their care. Give our ministers wisdom to strengthen our spirits, to encourage us to think of others, and to guide our churches to make sound decisions. Give all of us wisdom to follow the advice of experts who are trying to teach us how to protect ourselves and others.
Protect those whose necessary service puts them at risk. Protect those who are especially vulnerable to the coronavirus. Protect us all.
O God, we need protection from threats other than the virus. Please protect us from excessive fear, from selfishness, and from apathy. Protect us from ways of thinking, talking, and acting that indicate racism, classism, or other sinful assumptions and perspectives.
Fill us to overflowing with your love, your grace, your mercy, and your peace, so that they pour out of us and on to others.
O God, we are not together today. And yet we are together. We are together because your love, your Spirit, and our fellowship bind us even we are apart. We are together in you.
As your scattered yet united people, we praise your name, ask for your help, and seek your will.
In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord we pray,
Amen.
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Repentance
Many Christians observe the forty days (not counting Sundays) between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday as the season of Lent. The name “Lent” comes from an old word meaning “to lengthen,” and, since the days get longer in the spring, it came to name that season. Lent is a season of repentance that is often accompanied by fasting.
It being that time of year, I’ve been thinking about what I need to repent of. (Some of you will say that I need to repent of ending that sentence with a preposition. I’m sorry, but “about that of which I need to repent” is too highfalutin for my taste.)
Let’s set my grammatical sins aside and move on to what I really do need to repent of. To repent means to turn away from something, but it also means to turn toward something else. So I’ll also mention the positive changes I need to make.
I need to repent of self-centeredness. I need to stop thinking of myself as much as I do. I need to stop putting myself first in my list of concerns. I need to turn toward empathy. I need to try to put myself in others’ place so I can attempt to see life from their perspective. I recognize that I neither can nor should stop thinking about myself. I also recognize that I can’t really see things as others do. But I can try. I can do better.
I need to repent of dullness. I’m not talking about my personality. I’m talking about my mental laziness. Oh, I spend most of my waking hours editing, reading, and writing, so my brain stays active. But I’m too limited in what I deem possible. I need to turn toward imagination. I need to open my thinking up to ways I’ve never thought before and to possibilities I’ve never considered. I recognize that I can’t think about everything. I realize that my imagination has its limits. But I can do better at pushing toward them.
I need to repent of despair. Too often I look at the way things are and I throw up my mental hands and say, “What’s the use?” Sometimes I let myself think that if people really want to go down the road toward destruction, let them. I need to turn toward hope. I need to believe that change is possible. I need to keep working toward a better world. I know that sometimes I’ll get discouraged, but I also know that I—that we—can’t give up and can’t stop trying.
I need to repent of assumption. I’m guilty of assuming that I’m right, which means that I’m guilty of assuming that other people are wrong. I need to turn toward humility. I need to stop and consider the very real possibility that I’m wrong. The problem is with my first thought. That is, I tend to automatically assume that my attitude, position, and opinion are correct. I need to analyze what I think and what others think about an issue, and then, taking all the evidence I can muster into account, make a decision. If I need to change my mind, so be it. If I was right to begin with, so be it.
Maybe you need to turn away from similar ways of thinking. Maybe you need to turn toward similar ways of thinking. Hopefully, if we will by God’s grace and by our best efforts move toward thinking in more gracious and loving ways, we’ll also move toward living in more gracious and loving ways.
This kind of living takes much energy and great effort. But it’s worth it.
It being that time of year, I’ve been thinking about what I need to repent of. (Some of you will say that I need to repent of ending that sentence with a preposition. I’m sorry, but “about that of which I need to repent” is too highfalutin for my taste.)
Let’s set my grammatical sins aside and move on to what I really do need to repent of. To repent means to turn away from something, but it also means to turn toward something else. So I’ll also mention the positive changes I need to make.
I need to repent of self-centeredness. I need to stop thinking of myself as much as I do. I need to stop putting myself first in my list of concerns. I need to turn toward empathy. I need to try to put myself in others’ place so I can attempt to see life from their perspective. I recognize that I neither can nor should stop thinking about myself. I also recognize that I can’t really see things as others do. But I can try. I can do better.
I need to repent of dullness. I’m not talking about my personality. I’m talking about my mental laziness. Oh, I spend most of my waking hours editing, reading, and writing, so my brain stays active. But I’m too limited in what I deem possible. I need to turn toward imagination. I need to open my thinking up to ways I’ve never thought before and to possibilities I’ve never considered. I recognize that I can’t think about everything. I realize that my imagination has its limits. But I can do better at pushing toward them.
I need to repent of despair. Too often I look at the way things are and I throw up my mental hands and say, “What’s the use?” Sometimes I let myself think that if people really want to go down the road toward destruction, let them. I need to turn toward hope. I need to believe that change is possible. I need to keep working toward a better world. I know that sometimes I’ll get discouraged, but I also know that I—that we—can’t give up and can’t stop trying.
I need to repent of assumption. I’m guilty of assuming that I’m right, which means that I’m guilty of assuming that other people are wrong. I need to turn toward humility. I need to stop and consider the very real possibility that I’m wrong. The problem is with my first thought. That is, I tend to automatically assume that my attitude, position, and opinion are correct. I need to analyze what I think and what others think about an issue, and then, taking all the evidence I can muster into account, make a decision. If I need to change my mind, so be it. If I was right to begin with, so be it.
Maybe you need to turn away from similar ways of thinking. Maybe you need to turn toward similar ways of thinking. Hopefully, if we will by God’s grace and by our best efforts move toward thinking in more gracious and loving ways, we’ll also move toward living in more gracious and loving ways.
This kind of living takes much energy and great effort. But it’s worth it.
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