Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who loose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them, if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?
On Ash Wednesday we heard another important charge if you will from Jesus when he reminded us that where our treasure is, there also is our heart. (See Matthew 6:18). It can be difficult in our world of technology and quick paced life to remember where our true devotion and center should be. We tend to think if only we had enough money, or products, or the ability to not have to worry about how we cook our pasta or anything that appears to quickly solve problems, then we will be truly satisfied. Our televisions are full of infomercials of the latest stuff that is suppose to make our lives easier. Internet offers come by the thousands in our spam boxes, that promise wealth and material happiness. Have you ever heard that people who win the lottery today are miserable in about a year because of all the debt they have acquired? They fell in to the trap of "If only we had more money, we will be happy."
I want to be very careful here that we lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people do not get the wrong idea. Our work for equality and justice is very important work. Jesus and his Cross is very much concerned about people who are left on the margins of society and the Church. However, we must also be very careful about the "If only this would happen, then we would be better off." Well, that is partially true. If we were granted the right of marriage equality for example, then we would be able to participate in the rights, privileges and responsibilities that heterosexuals enjoy. I truly believe that is what God wants for us. It is also very important that the atmosphere of full inclusion for LGBT people continue to become better so that people can come out and be honest about who they are. However, if we place our true happiness on these things and they become our focus and center, without taking the time to see God and Jesus as our center then we are missing the point of what and why we are seeking equal rights.
The Cross is where quite frankly, there are no human rights. It is a terrible act of injustice that the Son of God was crucified by our sins. Yet, without the Cross we could not be saved from our sins. When Jesus was nailed to the Cross full of pain, suffering and death all Jesus had was God. And from our time spent in the Christmas and Epiphany Seasons the one thing we understood from chapter 1 of John's Gospel is that Jesus is the Word of God, God's very Self. Yet, even God is willing to stripe God's Self in Jesus Christ to show us what is ultimately important. In Psalm 49 we read:
"Hear this, all you peoples; hearken, all you who dwell in the world, you of high degree and low, rich and poor together. The wickedness of those who put their trust in their goods, and boast of their riches? We can never ransom ourselves, or deliver to God the price of our life; For the ransom of our life is so great, that we should never have enough to pay for it, in order to live for ever and ever, and never see the grave. For we see that the wise die also; like the dull and stupid they perish and leave their wealth to those who come after them." (Psalm 49: 1, 5-9)
The Cross of Jesus and the words of this beautiful Psalm reminds us that no matter how much we gain, all of us will die some day. All that we work for here in this life might remain behind, but we will one day leave this world for another destiny. That destiny is in God's hands, not ours. Yet, we live, and buy, build, construct, destroy and rebuild as if there is no ending. Everything in this world that starts has an end, including us. At the Cross we see Who is the beginning and the end. God. At the Cross we see who our treasure and ultimate happiness will be in. God. As we look upon the Cross who do we see Jesus trusting in? God. Who then should we be focusing on and giving first place to? God.
One of my favorite old TV Shows used to be Touched by an Angel. Despite the cheesiness of the show that could be not so entertaining, the one thing that I loved about it is that the angels reminded people to keep God in their lives. Having God in our lives does not always mean that there will be a happy ending to the story, but it does mean that no matter what happens to us, God is there and God wants to love us and God wants us to trust God. This message was a constant reminder of this weekly show and it has a terrific message for us focusing on Jesus and the Cross during this season of Lent. We are spending this time of prayer, fasting and alms-giving to put God back into the center of our lives. God wants to be in our center because God wants to love us in the deepest part of ourselves, so that God can connect with every place where their are wounds, and shame over things that keep us from loving God, our neighbors and ourselves.
As LGBT people in our work for equality and justice let us remember to take some time at the Cross to reflect on why we are engaged in this unending task. We are doing it because at the Cross Jesus truly loved everyone, even those who put him there. When it is difficult for us to forgive those who discriminate against us, we need to visit the Cross to keep that anger and unwillingness to forgive from destroying our relationship with God and ourselves. When we struggle with thinking that we are condemned because of our sexual orientations and/or gender identities/expressions because the religious right says so, we need to spend some time at the Cross and hear Jesus tell us: "Today, you will be with me in paradise." (Luke 23: 43). Jesus does not see us through the eyes of the philosophy of heterosexism. Jesus sees us as God does, as wonderful children created in the image and likeness of God, who are affected by sin just like everyone else. That sin is not our being LGBT, but thinking of ourselves on everyone else's terms except God's. God sees us as people that God is deeply in love with. God see us as people who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus shed on the Cross. God sees us as good, holy and with us, God is well-pleased in Jesus Christ, God's only Son our Lord.
Today, we are challenged to shoulder our cross and follow Jesus as he leads us all to God as the center of our lives. Jesus wants us all to forsake a self-destructive philosophy dominated with prejudice and hate, and to acquire for ourselves and the world around us a healthy understanding of ourselves by letting God be our center. Our work for equality and justice is based on the reality that God is our center and reason that we labor for everyone to be known, loved and respected as God's holy people.
When I survey the wondrous cross where the young Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it Lord, that I should boast, save in the cross of Christ, my God:
All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to his blood.
See, from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a Crown?
Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far too small;
love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.
(Hymn 474 from the Hymnal 1982).
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