Jesus' Wondrous Cross

"After mocking him,

they stripped him of the purple cloak

and put his own clothes on him.

Then they led him out to crucify him."

(from Mark 15:1-47)

As I reflect on the story of Jesus’ torment, suffering and crucifixion, similar stories come to my mind.

Stories such as George Floyd, Breyonna Taylor, school shootings by students, and NYC subway incidents.

On the one hand, I think there’s nothing outstanding about Jesus’ torment, suffering and crucifixion. 

The Roman government crucified lots of people because of betrayal, arrest under false charges, abandonment, physical abuse, and mob “justice".

The world in Jesus’ day experienced profound cruelty from the elite and those with governmental power able to manipulate the legal system for their corrupt interests.

On the other hand, Jesus’ trial and crucifixion was an apocalyptic event, a revelation.

The disciples understood Jesus as the Messiah when the Centurion said, “Truly, this was the Son of God!” 

The first chapter is the Exodus story with plagues, darkened skies and finally, death of the first-born son.

The new chapter, the apocalyptic event, the revelation, is God’s plan of salvation symbolized by similar events such as the tearing of the temple curtain, darkness, death of the first-born son.

Jesus’ own suffering is part of a larger story of apocalyptic liberation, created by the death of the divine Son rather than the firstborn of Egypt.

Today, in our “present evil age” we are still waiting for the Son of Man to “arrive on the clouds with great power and glory”

It seems to me that our waiting during this “present evil age ” needs to include gathering around the Lord’s table where our souls are nourished with the hope of God's mighty act of salvation.

At the same time, we need to minister to those suffering from evil, injustice, and oppression as God called us through Jesus. 

Think about it: how are you nurturing your soul while waiting got God's mighty act of salvation?

Seeking Jesus

Now among those who went up

to worship at the festival were some Greeks.

They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee,

and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

( from John 12:20-32)

During Fellowship Time, I try talking to new folks asking why they chose to attend our church.

Many have chosen to attend because they have just moved into the area, were seeking a church, and experienced us as a friendly church.

Some, after experiencing a traumatic event, are seeking Jesus.

One person, sharing the event using limited language, spoke of feeling clueless, not having money, and poor at conversation.

The person was seeking Jesus with a troubled soul needing comfort and hope.

The Greeks are seeking Jesus, but the Scripture doesn’t tell, and we don’t know, their expectations

In searching the Scriptures, John 7:35-36 suggests the seekers aren’t Greeks, rather Jews dispersed among Greeks freed the Babylonian exile and heading to Jerusalem for the Passover festival.

The “Greeks” also represent the world that God loves and saves.

Additionally, they represent a world rejecting God’s saving love, which might cause an apocalypse, the Armageddon.

Did they find what they were seeking?

The Scripture following their request isn't clear whether Jesus is talking to the Greeks or to Andrew and Philip.

What is clear, is that the seeking Greeks wish to see Jesus.

I listened patiently to the person, answering all questions assuring it was OK to ask.

Did the person seeking Jesus see Jesus?

Were expectations, if any fulfilled?

It’s hard to say.

But I can tell you this, the person has been attending church ever since and staying for Fellowship Time.

Perhaps he saw Jesus in the acceptance of disciples he met.

Think about it: What expectations do you have when you ask to see Jesus?

Jesus' Vindicating Love

“This is the verdict:

Light has come into the world,

but people loved darkness instead of light

because their deeds were evil.

Everyone who does evil hates the light,

and will not come into the light

for fear that their deeds will be exposed”

(from John 3:14-21)

The most familiar Bible passage is John 3:16, “for God so love the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

The idea is that God gave Jesus to earth to save it with love by sacrificing his body on the cross saving those who believed in him.

 This raises questions: What does it mean to believe in?  Did Jesus need to come into the world because of sin? What kind of sin then?

 As I search the scriptures to discover God’s work through Jesus according to John, I need to constantly go back to John’s main theology: there is light and there is darkness and followers of Jesus are called to live in the light.

So, I begin with verse 19: This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

There is a choice: be part of ending the sins of hate, injustice, oppression and replace them with justice, compassion, mercy, love, equality.

Loving Jesus is accepting his teachings and taking a stand based on them in a world full of evil, injustice and oppression.

Believing in Jesus is making decisions in a world full of misdoing by embracing the call live by compassion, mercy, love, equality.

Now when I read John 3:16 in context with the other verses, I see it as a call to resist evil, injustice and oppression as Jesus lived and taught.

Think about it: What does it mean to you to love light rather than darkness and to “come to the light” each day? (John 3:19-20)

Jesus Light in Trauma

After he was raised from the dead,

his disciples remembered that he had said this;

and they believed the scripture and

the word that Jesus had spoken.

(from John 2:13-22)

One morning I received a phone call saying, “Rev. Cooper, this is the Fire Chief informing you of a structure fire on 226 Main St”.

That meant the church was on fire.

At the church I found fire engines, anguished church members, and smoke rising from the education wing. 

That evening we held a service praying for guidance with the coming trials of damage repair and continuing ministries.

One unspoken, heart-felt prayer was, “Jesus, where are you in this tragedy?”

When I long for answers, I begin searching the Scriptures, not merely for a verse here or there, but a story or event. 

The Gospel states John’s mission is to witness to testify to the light, shining in the darkness which did not overcome it so all might believe through him.

The bigger picture here is the 46 years of rebuilding the Second Jerusalem Temple only to face destruction by the Roman colonizers.

This is the traumatic darkness John’s community was living through.

John’s mission is to testify to the light shining in that darkness.

John testifies with the story of Jesus’ making a whip, overturning tables, and claiming he’ll raise it up in 3 days if it’s destroyed.

The light shining in the darkness is remembering and believing the scripture as well as Jesus’ spoken words.

To believe the scripture and Jesus’ word means living by the conviction there is light somewhere in any darkness you’re experiencing.

My witness to you is that the church fire was deep darkness, but Jesus was the radiant light in the prayer service that evening.