First Presbyterian Church
Cross Reverence
Sermon for April 4, 2004
by Pastor Susan Barnes

Listen for the word of God as it is found in Luke 19:28-40.

28 After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, "Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you,'Why are you untying it?' just say this, 'The Lord needs it.'" 32 So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?" 34 They said, "The Lord need sit." 35 Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deed s of power that they had seen, 38 saying, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!" 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, order your disciples to stop." 40 He answered, " I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out."

This ends our reading from chapter 19. Let us listen to the choir.

One theologian said, “It was a moment filled with possibility. The thought of what might be exhilarated all who followed Jesus. Might this be the king who would deliver them from the Romans? Might this be the Messiah who would usher in the blessing of the age to come and the return of all the children of God who had been scattered abroad? This was the moment on which the wheel of history would turn. Either God's kingdom would be established on earth, or the people's hope would be forever shattered.” (2)

Listen for the word of God as it is found in Luke 23:1-26.

1 Then the assembly rose as a body and brought Jesus before Pilate. 2 They began to accuse him, saying, "We found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king." 3 Then Pilate asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" He answered, "You say so." 4 Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, "I find no basis for an accusation against this man." 5 But they were insistent and said, "He stirs up the people by teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to this place."

6 When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. 7 And when he learned that he was under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him off to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time.8 When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform some sign. 9 He questioned him at some length, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. 11 Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him; then he put an elegant robe on him, and sent him back to Pilate. 12 That same day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; before this they had been enemies.

13 Pilate then called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, 14 and said to them, "You brought me this man as one who was perverting the people; and here I have examined him in your presence and have not found this man guilty of any of your charges against him. 15 Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Indeed, he has done nothing to deserve death. 16 I will therefore have him flogged and release him."

18 Then they all shouted out together, "Away with this fellow! Release Barabbas for us!" 19 (This was a man who had been put in prison for an insurrection that had taken place in the city, and for murder.) 20 Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again; 21 but they kept shouting, "Crucify, crucify him!" 22 A third time he said to them, "Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death; I will therefore have him flogged and then release him." 23 But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified ; and their voices prevailed. 24 So Pilate gave his verdict that their demand should be granted. 25 He released the man they asked for, the one who had been put in prison for insurrection and murder, and he handed Jesus over as they wished.

26 As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus. 27 A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him.

This ends our reading of God's word from verse 1-26.

The chief priests, leaders, crowds, and people were there when they shouted “Crucify, crucify him.” It's not clear to me who was doing the shouting. The people did follow him, including the women who were wailing for him. Traditionally, women performed the public lamenting when someone died.

This week, I talked to a child who said that in Sunday School, they don't teach you that the cross was a way to kill people. So, in case you too didn't hear that, let me tell you that crucifixion, death on the cross, was the Roman government's preferred method of execution. It was the way they killed criminals, and traitors. Crucifixions were public, held in prominent hills so that the crosses could be seen from a long way off. It was not a good way to die.

Listen for the word of God as it is found in Luke 23:44-49.

44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 while the sun's light failed ; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." Having said this, he breathed his last.47 When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, "Certainly this man was innocent." 48 And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. 49 But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

This ends our reading of God's word.

With all the politics in the news, I have been thinking about elections. Herod and Pilate were political enemies, until mutual fear of Jesus made them allies.

I've been thinking how politicians can get elected or appointed, serve, make political compromises, speak to the press carefully, and still keep their integrity. Any of you who have served as a government official know it isn't easy.

Did you know the president's National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice is a Presbyterian deacon? At a meeting on the United States' global HIV/AIDS initiative, our PCUSA moderator, Susan Andrews met Dr. Rice. She said Rice "knew who I was and responded to me as a Presbyterian," reassured the delegation "that the administration is fully committed to keeping the funding goals it set for this year and for the program as a whole."

I got a letter this week from Bernie Adeney-Risakotta, a missionary and peacemaker in Indonesia. He sent a prayer concern about his wife. He writes, “Farsijana is now campaigning in the Province of North Moluccas. She was invited … to run for the national congress (DPR) with the PKB party. PKB is the party formed by the largest Muslim organization in Indonesia and perhaps the world so it is remarkable that they are seeking women, Christian candidates for national office. She sees this as a great opportunity to work for Muslim-Christian reconciliation in North Moluccas, regardless of whether or not she wins in the election. She is having a great time, but is also very exhausted. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. The election is on April 5 2004.

Although Pilate and Herod weren't elected by the people, they were sensitive to public perception. Did you notice what the crowd did? They were at the parade into Jerusalem, and with the priests and may or may not have themselves shouted “crucify him.” Then the crowds went home, lamenting what had happened. The crowd acts in its best interests, unwilling to go against their leaders. Jesus had taught truth and courage, but the crowd didn't show either.

The crowd didn't mock him, though. That's traditionally what tormenters do to their victims during torture, hoping to make them betray their faith. Ancient near eastern texts record martyrs' deaths. Here's an excerpt from 4 Maccabees 9:17, about seven brothers who won't eat pork nor sacrifice to pagan gods. The first brother said, “Cut my limbs, burn my flesh, and twist my joints; through all these tortures I will convince you that children of the Hebrews alone are invincible where virtue is concerned.” And later, “The wheel was completely smeared with blood, and the heap of coals was being quenched by the drippings of gore, and pieces of flesh were falling off the axles of the machine.” 4 Macc 9:20.

Four chapters in Maccabees (9-13) detail the torture of each brother. You won't hear them from me today. But in the gospels' accounts of the crucifixion, there are no graphic details. It is not that they deny Jesus' suffering, but that the meaning of Christ's life, death, and resurrection aren't going to be found in sensationalism. Nonetheless blood remains a profound Christian symbol, one that we don't often display in our banners or on our bulletin covers.

Kathleen Norris, a Presbyterian author writes “Roman Catholics seem to have a healthier, more balanced comprehension of the blood symbolism in Christianity.

She wrote that the hymn, “There is A Fountain Filled with Blood,” ….is so literal—a fountain filled with blood—that in our literal-minded age, for most people it will occasion only feelings of revulsion. In the Presbyterian congregations I know best, it is probably kids like my nine-year-old nephew who would most appreciate the hymn, as a welcome opportunity to be ‘totally grossed out' in church. But it's our loss; I especially regret that we no longer get to sing the last verse: ‘then in a nobler sweeter song, I'll sing thy power to save, when this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave.'

[Jesus as flesh and blood] remains a scandal to anyone who wants religion to be a purely spiritual matter, an etherized, bloodless bliss. It remains a scandal to Christians who fear and despise the human body, or those who want to hear only of a Jesus who is all-knowing, all-powerful—surely not the human being of Matthew or Mark, subject to temptation and ordinary emotions such as irritation and weariness...

The first time I heard this passage from Revelation ‘He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood,' read aloud in a monastery choir, it made me sit bolt upright. A pure white robe, stained with blood, an image that seemed to sum up all of the injunctions in the psalms and prophets against shed ding innocent blood. The human Jesus, blood and all, as the very word of God. Human blood as holy, because Jesus was human.” (3) Humans are holy, and precious. We are important to God, no matter what the world may tell us about our lack of skill, our age, our lack of wealth, our youth. All of Jesus teachings direct us how to serve God faithfully. His parables teach us stewardship, and ethics, and wisdom. He showed us it is possible to live being faithful to God, even under an oppressive Roman occupation.

But the early church wasn't talking much about Jesus teachings. For the early Christians, the question they had to answer was, if Jesus was the son of God, if he was holy, why did he die? Jesus was executed on the cross because he was a threat to the powers that be, to the political and religious leaders. He criticized their decisions, their attitudes, and their priorities. He taught in the synagogues as a rabbi. He ate with the Pharisees. He brought healing to families of Roman soldiers as well as priests. He was not looking for a military victory. He proclaimed his message by teaching, and demonstrated his faith by participating in the traditions of the Jewish people, and criticizing empty piety.

Herod and Pilate had been political rivals before Jesus came to Jerusalem, but they both recognized the threat he was to their power base, and so they had him crucified.

But Paul's letters and the other epistles talked about the meaning of Christ's death, and how he died to save people, as part of God's plan to red eem the world. His death didn't mean that God was on Rome's side. But that's what it looked like.

In Jesus day, Caesar claimed to be God. Herod and Pilate were serving God, because they served at Caesar's pleasure. Through history, politicians have claimed that God is on their side, and not on anyone else's. God is a God of victory and power that powerful victors can access and use. Jesus'death on the cross give the lie to that.

(1) 2 Kings 9:13 Then hurriedly they all took their cloaks and spread them for him on the bare steps; and they blew the trumpet, and proclaimed, "Jehu is king." Plutarch, Parallel Lives, “Life of Cato the Younger” 12, quoted in Hellenistic Commentary to the New Testament, p. 123, “when the time of Cato's military service came to an end, he was sent on his way, not with blessings, as is common, nor yet with praises, but with tears and insatiable embraces, the solders casting their mantles down for him to walk upon…”

(2) New Interpreter's Bible IX, p. 370.

(3) Norris, Kathleen, Amazing Grace, p. 113+.