Today's Scripture Readings
Isaiah 52:13-53:12 (NRSV)
See, my servant shall prosper;
he shall be exalted and lifted up,
and shall be very high.
Just as there were many who were astonished at him
--so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of mortals--
so he shall startle many nations;
kings shall shut their mouths because of him;
for that which had not been told them they shall see,
and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate.
Who has believed what we have heard?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by others;
a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him of no account.
Surely he has borne our infirmities
and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have all turned to our own way,
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By a perversion of justice he was taken away.
Who could have imagined his future?
For he was cut off from the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people.
They made his grave with the wicked
and his tomb with the rich,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him with pain.
When you make his life an offering for sin,
he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days;
through him the will of the LORD shall prosper.
Out of his anguish he shall see light;
he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge.
The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;
because he poured out himself to death,
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
Psalm 22 (BCP., p. 610)
Hebrews 4: 14-15 5: 7-9 (NRSV)
Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,
So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." Many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' but, 'This man said, I am King of the Jews.'" Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written." When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it." This was to fulfill what the scripture says,
"They divided my clothes among themselves,
and for my clothing they cast lots."
And that is what the soldiers did.
Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Here is your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.
After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), "I am thirsty." A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, "It is finished." Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Since it was the day of Preparation, the Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross during the sabbath, especially because that sabbath was a day of great solemnity. So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out. (He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth.) These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled, "None of his bones shall be broken." And again another passage of scripture says, "They will look on the one whom they have pierced."
Blog Reflection
The image of the Prodigal Son has been returning to me over and over again this past Lent. First, by way of Henri J.M. Nouwen's book The Return of the Prodigal Son. Second, I found this theme returning to me as I read two books by Esther de Waal. The first of her books was A Life-Giving: A Commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict. The next book was Seeking Life: The Baptismal Invitation of the Rule of St. Benedict. Last, but not least a book by Claudia A. Dickson entitled Entering the Household of God: Taking Baptism Seriously in a Post-Christian Society. In each of the titles I have mentioned, the authors in one form or another refer to the outstretched arms of Jesus Christ on the Cross as the arms of God forever outstretched to receive the most wretched of sinners. Such was the meaning of the Parable of the Prodigal Son.
As I was doing my Lectio Divina today, I read the following amazing words in Thomas A Kempis' The Imitation of Christ. "The Cross is always ready and waits everywhere, for you" (p. 93).
What is it like to look back on life and discover instances when we may have found the Cross waiting for us, and the arms of our loving Savior with His arms outstretched?
When I was a Church Music major at Eastern Nazarene College between 1988 to 1994, I saw the health of my Church Music Professor decline very rapidly. It declined due to Lu Gehrig's Disease. In February of 1994, he lost his battle with the disease and died. When I began attending college in the Fall of 1988, he was a healthy man. He had a Master's Degree in trombone, and a magnificent tenor voice. When he conducted the Messiah every December, performed by the Choral Union, he was masterful, full of gesture and life. By the time he died, he was lucky if he could raise his arms off his electric wheelchair to scratch his nose.
One summer while I was there, I needed help to pass my sight singing proficiency exam that was to be taken at the beginning of the next school year. I had failed it four times. The exam to be given me was my last chance, or I would not get my degree. One day, I woke up really late for my on campus summer job. I did not have time to take a shower. I was miserable all day. After work, I went to work with him on my sight singing practice. I was just about in tears. Prof. Howard heard my story compassionately. After I finished, he just about laughed himself to death. He told me that if he had told his wife over the phone that he was about devastated because he woke up late, did not take a shower and all that, his wife would laugh for about 15 minutes. He said that his wife would eventually say: "So what!!" My professor continued: "You were able to wake up and live another day. You got to go to work without getting fired. You were able to do what you could. You did what you were suppose to do." Before I forget, I did pass the exam in the Fall.
I was thinking about this today as I was meditating on what Good Friday is all about. Here was a man, who was literally losing all the ability to move the muscles in his body voluntarily, yet he was telling me to cheer up and get on with life. He told me with no bitterness or sorrow for himself. His main concern was encouraging me.
On Good Friday, Jesus Christ is God's remedy for our sins. God knowing that we could not accomplish our salvation unless God intervened on our behalf, did more than that. God, in the Person of Jesus Christ, became the punishment our sins deserved. He suffered a most agonizing death to restore us to friendship with God. All that Jesus suffered on this most holy of days, was God acting in our place, so that God can look upon us all through the blood of God's Son and see us forgiven and liberated to live our lives in friendship with God and one another. We are the one's who sinned by being so immature. But, God through life and death of Christ showed us the Way (See John 14:6) back to God's Self.
It is not enough to come to this day after five weeks of fasting, prayer and alms giving to go back to the way we were. As people baptized into Christ Jesus, we have shared in His death and resurrection. By the power of the Holy Spirit that came on Pentecost because of Christ's resurrection, we are enabled by God's grace to grow in holiness through our relationships with others. Including, but not limited to the marginalized, poor, oppressed, and the physically/psychologically challenged.
The Cross is not the Christianists excuse for targeting women, LGBT people, Muslims, Jews, Native Americans, African Americans, Liberals, etc. The Cross is not a progressives excuse to not forgive and pray for Christianists who chose to hate in the Name of Christ. The Cross is not a reason for the conviction to justify the closing down of planned parenthood offices nation wide, or targeting abortion doctors to murder. The Cross is not our emblem to deny health care to the sick and vulnerable. Nor is it the justification for drone missiles killing whole families in Pakistan, or targeting Americans suspected of being terrorists. The need for a Savior who died on the Cross, is not our scapegoat for not being good stewards of the environment, our possessions, our sexuality, our families and children. The Cross on which Jesus died, does not mean the Judaism has been superseded by Christianity and therefore is no longer a valid bulwark of faith.
The Cross is our reference point for "the path of God's commandments" so that "our hearts may overflow with the inexpressible delight of love" (vs. 49, Prologue of the Rule of St. Benedict, p.165). The love by which the loving arms of God are forever outstretched to embrace all who long for God's mercy and salvation, is our reason and text book for embracing one another in charity and hope.
As we pray throughout the day, let us all take time to ask God to recreate new hearts in us by the Holy Spirit (Psalm 51:11). That we may love God, others and ourselves with a holy and life-giving love. The kind that welcomes all, offers reconciliation and recreates the face of the earth.
Amen.
Prayers
Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your
family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be
betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer
death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and
the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for Good Friday, Book of Common Prayer, p.221).
Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but
first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he
was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way
of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and
peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Collect for Fridays, Book of Common Prayer, p.99).
Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on
the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within
the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit
that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those
who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for
the honor of your Name. Amen. (Prayer for Mission, Book of Common Prayer, p.101).
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