Palm Sunday

March 28, 2010

The Rev. Dorian McGlannan

In the wonderful BBC mini-series called “Foyle’s War”, detective chief superintendent Christopher Foyle is in the business of solving ordinary crimes in the midst of WWII.  Throughout the series when murder victims are found, Foyle often shakes his head and says “what a waste of life.” This particular sentiment also surfaces every now and again with regard to the innocent victims of the war itself.  This theme of the waste of life, in fact, permeates a good bit of the entire series: the waste of life.

In the last quarter century at least, our country has seen many attempts to ensure that untimely deaths do not deteriorate into nothing more than a waste of life.  Organizations such as SADD, students against drunk driving and MADD – Mothers against Drunk Driving, both of which have been around more than 25 years are powerful examples of how the energy of grief and sorrow can be put toward ensuring that lives are not needlessly wasted.

Today we hear the story of one whose life and death had nothing to do with waste.  Of all the deaths that have ever taken place, we know that the death of Jesus could never be called a waste of life.  But if it is not a waste of life, what is it? Theology of the atonement which deals with this core question of our faith has many faces.  As a matter of fact it is far more accurate to say theologies of the atonement because they run the gamut and come in many forms.  Theologians have argued for centuries in an attempt to make sense of Jesus’ death.  On one extreme we have the notion that it was God’s plan all along to have Jesus die, so that God’s plan for salvation of humanity could be carried out.   This idea refuses to make room for the evil of humanity and the fact that humans were the ones to turn on Jesus and put him to death.  Sometimes when we hear this kind of theology, we hear that Jesus died for us so that we will never have to suffer.  The problem is that when we do suffer, we cannot make sense of it. This kind of individualistic thinking detracts from a theology of the cross which enables us to make meaning out of suffering, and to extend that meaning to others.

Another way of looking at the atonement is to understand that Jesus’ death allows us to make meaning out of our experiences of suffering; it helps us to know that our suffering can never lack a purpose. Were we reconciled to God through Jesus’ death on the cross, as St. Paul so passionately writes about in his letter to the Romans?  Yes, but that is not the whole story. It is also important not to simply focus on one part of the trilogy of Jesus’ experience.  Jesus’ death is part of the trilogy of his life and his resurrection and to try to interpret one without the other two makes no sense at all.

Let me explain with an example from my own life, that of my journey with breast cancer.  I knew soon after my diagnosis that I would not be experiencing this alone.  I knew I had to share this journey with others.  I know everyone deals with these things differently and when I went shopping for my wig, the sales woman told me that many women don’t tell anyone and they search high and low for a wig that looks exactly like the hair they had.  My heart breaks when I hear things such as this because not only does it make the journey incredibly lonely it denies others the opportunity to learn from our experiences. At the same time, I know that I need to honor the way people handle these things.  My way is not the only way nor is it necessarily the right way. Nonetheless, I want to share some of what I have learned.  For the most part, I have tried not to let my illness take over all that is happening at this church.  And so I started my blog for those who wanted a more in-depth understanding of my journey with cancer.  I cannot tell you how many people have written to me, either privately or through e-mail letting me know that my blog has helped them with what is going on in their own lives.  Many of you have shared the site with friends and so I am even hearing from people I have never met.   What does all of this mean?  I think it means that the more open we are, the more we can carry each other’s burdens.  I think it means not only that hiding behind our suburban doors does not serve others, but also that it does not serve us.  Granted there are things in our lives that are much too painful to share with a large group of people.  But the ability to share with at least one other person makes all the difference in the world. 

When we think of Jesus’ death, it is important to know that it happened right out there for everyone to see.  There was nothing private about anything in his life.  When Jesus was on the cross, he was ridiculed and spat upon but the public nature of his death allowed the story to be quickly shared with all who knew him and so it was with the resurrection. News spread like rapid fire because people knew him and wanted to share the joy.  It is important for us to ultimately realize that Jesus did not come to die; he came to give life and Jesus’ death could not stop him from doing that.  In his first sermon in the book of Acts, Peter states that it was we humans who crucifed and killed Christ “by hands of those outside the law.”God didn’t do it.  But in the end God raised Jesus up, freeing him from the bonds and sting of death because it was impossible for Jesus to be held by the power of death.

What this means for us is that we too cannot be held in bondage by whatever deaths might be happening in our lives; the death of a person, the death of a loss of a job, the death of life as we have known it.  The power of all of these symbolic and real deaths can be release when we embrace the resurrection because death no matter what form it takes is never the end of the story. It just isn’t - not in Jesus’ case nor in ours.