All year we look at our crucifix. We probably don’t really notice it so much after a time, being here week in, week out, as we are. But today we must look at it, deeply, with our whole hearts, and minds, and souls.
Not of course this wooden representation, beautifully sculpted as it is. It is simply an icon, a window, into where we must look deeply today, with our whole hearts, and minds: the real Cross and the one who died on it, Jesus Christ.
Not merely died, of course. Brutally killed, tortured — murdered — executed. There are many words in our vocabulary that point to what happened. None can possibly capture the full horror.
Jesus Christ was brutally killed on a cross on a hill called Golgotha outside of the city walls of Jerusalem. That is the incontrovertible “what.”
What we continue to struggle with is the “why.” The “why” of Christ’s crucifixion.
The overwhelming “why” that we have heard down through the centuries is that God, angry at humanity for the disobedience of Adam and Eve, demanded retribution to make things right. And so God sent God’s only Son as a sacrifice — a blood sacrifice to appease this angry God. And after this sacrifice was accomplished, God was able to see humanity through new eyes. The Old Testament God of retribution became the New Testament God of mercy.
I have struggled to make sense of this notion of a God sending his son to be brutally killed in order to seek retribution from the humanity God created in the first place. I have struggled to make sense of the idea of a vengeful, angry, vindictive God — but find I simply can’t. This notion that once appeased the wrathful God of the Old Testament became the merciful God of the New Testament. I have struggled with this and I cannot accept it.
We Christians are the inheritors Jesus’ own faith, Judaism. And as inheritors, we Christians also believe what our Jewish cousins say every morning: Sh’ma Yis’ra’eil. Adonai Eloheinu. Adonai echad.
Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.
The Lord our God is One. There is no “Old Testament God” and “New Testament God.” The Lord our God is One.
And is it God’s nature to seek retribution? No. That is a human failing. That is what led Jesus to the Cross — our human lust for retribution. You did this to me, so I’ll do that to you. Which continues the death-spiral through the centuries. Strike. Counter strike. Attack. Counter attack. Battle. Counter battle. The on-going human lust for vengeance, retribution, revenge. The on-going human belief that retribution for one wrong will somehow put all things right. When we all know, because we have all seen and experienced that it just continues the on-going death spiral of vengeance piled upon more vengeance.
Had a simple, fallible human been crucified the way Jesus was we can be quite certain that his followers would have demanded revenge. Would have gathered the tribes and rallied the troops to demand enemy blood to repay the blood that had been shed. But that’s not what happened, is it? What words did Jesus speak from the Cross? Perhaps not in St. John’s account, but we recall it vividly from St. Luke’s Gospel. What words did Jesus speak from the Cross? “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Forgive them.
And what did his followers do? Demand revenge? No. Instead they traveled throughout the known world, putting their own lives at risk, to proclaim boldly God’s unconditional love for us, God’s yearning for us, God’s unbounded desire not for vengeance toward us but rather forgiveness.
Jesus’ followers traveled through the known world to proclaim that good news of God and to proclaim something else: that Christ is with us, continues to be with us all throughout our lives, throughout the ages, through death itself, and then beyond. He will never leave us or abandon us. Christ is our constant companion along life’s way. That is the other part of the good news Christ’s followers risked their lives to share throughout the known world.
And that brings us closer into the heart of the “why” of the Cross.
I now invite you to look at the figure of Jesus depicted in our own crucifix. Our icon, our window onto the One who is with us to the end of the ages and beyond. Look at his face, his eyes. And hear his voice:
I am with you throughout the length of your journey in this life — and beyond. Do you know suffering? I am with you, because I have suffered too.
Do you know joy? I am with you, because I once danced and laughed and provided sweet wine at a wedding feast in Cana.
Do you know betrayal? I am with you, because my closest friends ran off as soon as things got hard. One of them, as I know you know, sold me to the ones who put me to death. But I forgave them all. And perhaps you, too, can search your hearts and find your way to forgiving those who have wronged you.
He speaks to us in this way, because he knows us, and is with us. In his suffering and passion Christ made common cause, once and for all as well as through the ages yet to come, Christ made common cause with the suffering and hurt of us all.
And our response? Hear with me again words from the hymn we just sang:
What language shall I borrow to thank thee dearest friend,
for this thy dying sorrow, thy pity without end?
Oh, make me thine for ever! and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never, outlive my love for thee.