If all the world’s searching can be summed up in one brief statement, then, of course, the end of that searching can be summed up in one image, the cross. In the cross we find all our trouble, pain, and death to be sure, but also healing, community, judgment, and glory. The Evangelist does not minimize the suffering of the cross. He is not what Martin Luther would call, derogatorily, a theologian of glory. But that being said, he sees the paschal mystery in its totality. The passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus are all of a piece. As such, the cross is indeed where we see Jesus most clearly and personally.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
5th Sunday of Lent - Year B (John 12:20-33)
“Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” All of what we mean by pastoral ministry is summed up in this brief statement. All the desire, all the desperate searching, all the hopes and fears of the people who knock on pastor’s doors, who look up from hospital beds, who focus on clerical collars across airport boarding areas; all of this and more is to be found in these few words. And what is the only possible response for the pastor? He or she has no choice but to show the seeker the cross.
If all the world’s searching can be summed up in one brief statement, then, of course, the end of that searching can be summed up in one image, the cross. In the cross we find all our trouble, pain, and death to be sure, but also healing, community, judgment, and glory. The Evangelist does not minimize the suffering of the cross. He is not what Martin Luther would call, derogatorily, a theologian of glory. But that being said, he sees the paschal mystery in its totality. The passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus are all of a piece. As such, the cross is indeed where we see Jesus most clearly and personally.
If all the world’s searching can be summed up in one brief statement, then, of course, the end of that searching can be summed up in one image, the cross. In the cross we find all our trouble, pain, and death to be sure, but also healing, community, judgment, and glory. The Evangelist does not minimize the suffering of the cross. He is not what Martin Luther would call, derogatorily, a theologian of glory. But that being said, he sees the paschal mystery in its totality. The passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus are all of a piece. As such, the cross is indeed where we see Jesus most clearly and personally.
Monday, March 12, 2012
3rd Sunday of Lent - Year B (John 2:13-22)
Raised a Roman Catholic and attending parochial schools, I was constantly reminded as a child that my body was a temple of the Holy Spirit. If, indeed, our bodies are temples, then perhaps we might do well to see Lent as a time for inviting Jesus in to clean house. Augustine’s famous prayer “make me chaste, but not yet” is a reminder of the disruption such a house cleaning might cause in our lives.
Are we prepared to have the tables of our consumerism and trust in wealth overturned? What about the animals of our lust, gluttony, and lack of concern for their consequences on the earth? And then there are the coins of the realm; good looks, prestige, class, intelligence and health. Can we face a life without pockets full of these coins?
Jesus can change us – literally tear down the walls, towers, altars, and idols we have constructed and rebuild us in his own image. It’s no wonder, really, that I’ve never liked Lent.
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