Father Forgive Us
Luke (22:39-71) 23:1-49 (50-56)
Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!
Crucify! Crucify him!
Father forgive us; for we do not know what we are doing.
I am of the opinion that perhaps the greatest gift of
Christianity to the world is Holy Week. To quote, roughly, (the
source long since forgotten): “The whole journey of Holy week from Palm
Sunday to Easter is a single seamless tapestry and the meanings
[paradoxically] echo back and forth between death and life, crucifixion
and resurrection, weakness and power, judgment and grace.”
Holy Week brings into focus that which we experience in less
concentrated form as we go about our ordinary daily living. Hope
for something better tempered with fear of change, of letting go.
An inviting light surrounded by flickers of shadow at the edges.
Today we begin a walk that takes us from excited shouts of “Hosanna!”
to angry cries of “Crucify him!” The story abounds with
characters overwhelmed by events of life and the fears of death.
It is a risky story to tell -- it abounds with scapegoats and offers up
those on whom we can heap scorn as we justify ourselves. But it
also calls us to a reality that is inescapable.
A widely used psychological tests used in many endeavors is the
Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator. It can help us gain
insight into our ways of thinking, of perceiving and relating to the
world around us, and of projecting our ideas onto that world.
While I doubt the complexity of our nature can be broken down so
simply, the results can be useful.
One of my lifelong difficulties is that of being unable to see things
in distinct terms of good and bad, or right and wrong. It seems
to me that the worst of us has redeeming qualities while the best of us
is capable of the worst acts of violence toward another. It
helped to learn that in the jargon of the MBTI, I am an “NFP.”
That is to say, I tend to rely on intuition, to interpret and add
meaning to information; despite my training and background in science,
math, and engineering, I tend to rely on circumstance and feeling over
logic in coming to conclusions, and I prefer to remain open in my
dealing with the outer world. Maybe that also explains why I am
still trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up…
The point of all this is to highlight a tendency I and many others have
to appear “wishy-washy” at times – unable or unwilling to choose a side
and stick to it. It also highlights the fact that, whatever our
personality type, despite our best attempts at study and analysis, in
our incompleteness, our humanity, we fail to fully grasp the
consequences of our decisions and our actions.
Father forgive us; for we do not know what we are doing.
It is so easy to wave palm branches and shout Hosanna on Sunday when
Jesus rides into town on the colt. Here is the king who fulfills
the prophecy of Zechariah – a king comes riding on a sure-footed
ass. The donkey is not noted for speed nor might so much as its
ability to negotiate the hard places, its persistence, and its
resilience. I have ridden a donkey through rough terrain
searching for sheep and goats lost in thorny brush and shallow, sticky
mud flats.
And here, we have the image of Jesus as he comes riding on a donkey
signifying peace rather than storming in on a mighty steed prepared for
battle. The people celebrate his arrival after this long journey
from Galilee to Jerusalem. But underneath the celebration there
is an undercurrent of uncertainty.
How many of the folks in that crowd, shouting their ‘Hosannas’, would
have thought they would be shouting ‘Crucify him!’ before the week was
out? Would you? And what is striking is that ‘Crucify!’ was
not meant by the crowd for evil but for good – for stability and peace!
Think about the characters we heard in the reading – and some whose
absence still casts a silent shadow over the events. Listen for
the echoes of our selves in their words, their thoughts, their deeds.
Judas no doubt struggled with his role among the disciples. He
seems no more uncertain of Jesus’ mission than the rest and the
indications are that he was simply trying to force an issue, to get
Jesus to do what was best. Do we also betray Jesus by forcing our
agendas on his purpose? By shaping our religion to reflect our
own social needs and wishes while condemning those who see differently,
act differently, are different than ourselves?
Peter expressed confidence that, while others might abandon or turn
against their master, their teacher, their friend, he would not.
Yet Peter was the first to fulfill the prophecy of denial by a close
friend. Would you or I have denied Jesus when challenged by
onlookers in the night? Do you or I deny Jesus? Do we turn
on back when we feel threatened for embracing unpopular causes, outcast
people?
Pilate found no fault in him yet condemned him to die anyway. His
duty was to preserve the peace – if the death of Jesus would help that
along – so be it. He tried, didn't he? Are we willing to
compromise just to keep a semblance of peace?
Then there was the high priest who correctly prophesied that the death
of one could mean life and security – or at least an illusion of it –
for the many. After all, his teachings and his willingness to
open the way to life to anyone – his absolute inclusiveness felt like a
threat to all that was orthodox in their teaching. And with the
uncertainties of political unrest and financial stress in the nation,
it was important to defend the faith. Are we so threatened by our
own insecurities that we can not embrace those whose ideas differs from
our own?
Herod could brush off any guilt – outside his jurisdiction – thanks be
to God! And what of him who fashioned the cross from roughly hewn
lumber – was he not aware of its purpose. But then, it wasn't he
who would actually drive the nails – not his worry about how the cross
might be used. Certainly those with power to judge for life or
death would never condemn an innocent man! Are we willing to
excuse our own responsibilities by naively deferring to others?
The list goes on beyond what we can cover here. For 2,000 years,
even to 2007, the question we each must face is, which side am I
on? Which side do we choose? Can you shout Hosannas!
Do you hear ‘Crucify!’ rising up from a dark place within? Will
you dare to choose? To go beyond knowledge and reason, to enlarge
our ways of understanding and knowing, to listen to the Spirit of God?
Father forgive us; for we do not know what we are doing.
Let the journey begin. Listen for the echoes of death and life
this week. Examine thoughts and actions, day by day, all the way
to crucifixion and resurrection. All the way to forgiveness and
fellowship at the table God has set.
The Rev. Dcn. John Burton
April 1, 2007
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