RCL Lent 5B
22 March 2015
Saint Faith’s
Anglican Church
Vancouver BC
Focus text: John 12.20-33
Among
some early Christian communities, confession was public not private. The penitents would gather in the midst of
the assembled community and then, one by one, they would come and kneel beside
the bishop. The penitent would then make
her or his confession and the bishop would tell the penitent what acts of
contrition he or she must make. Then,
the bishop would declare forgiveness of the person’s sins.
In the
spirit of that tradition I have a confession to make to you all. Over the past two weeks I have not done those
things which I ought to have done because I watched all three seasons of ‘House
of Cards’, a dramatic series produced by Netflix and based on an earlier
British series --- which I have also watched in its entirety. My sin was triggered by my discovery that I
can gain access to my Netflix account from my television provider at home. Big screen.
Better sound. Clearer
picture. All the proper elements to
tempt even a priest from doing some of the things he or she ought to do!
The main
character, Francis Underwood, is a U.S. congressman who, by hook and by crook,
has managed to become President of the United States without standing for election
to that office. If you think this is
far-fetched, it isn’t. Some of us here
may remember the scandal-plagued second presidential term of Richard
Nixon. First, Nixon’s Vice President,
Spiro Agnew, was forced to resign and Gerald Ford, a congressman from Michigan,
was elected by Congress to replace Agnew.
Then came Watergate and Nixon’s resignation. Voilà --- Gerald Ford, a man who never stood
for election as President becomes President of the United States.
In a
recent episode Underwood, as President, participates in the burial of three
U.S. sailors killed in Afghanistan. The
bishop who is presiding at the burial uses the image of God asking Abraham to
sacrifice Isaac as a metaphor for our own feelings when our young men and women
put themselves in harm’s way. Underwood
is intrigued by the image and arranges to meet the bishop in a church later
that night.
In the
darkened church Underwood asks the bishop what God expects of him as
President. The bishop says, ‘Only
this: Love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your
strength. This is the first and the
great commandment. This second is like
it: Love your neighbour as
yourself. There is no commandment
greater than these.’ Underwood thanks
the bishop and asks to be left alone at the altar to pray.
He looks
up at the large crucifix hanging over the altar and tells God that if love is
the answer, then God is a fool and Underwood will not be a fool. Underwood will choose power rather than
love. Underwood spits at the figure of
Christ and then, to cover his sacrilege, reaches out to wipe the spit away with
his handkerchief. The figure of Christ
falls from the cross and shatters. As
the Secret Service agents rush to protect the President, Underwood simply tells
them to clean the mess up. As he leaves
the altar space, Underwood leans down and picks up a broken piece of the statue
that turns out to be Christ’s ear.
‘Well,’ he says, ‘I’ve got God’s ear now.’
In
today’s gospel reading from John, some Gentiles, probably Greek-speaking
followers of God who, for one reason or another have not fully converted to
Judaism, come near to Jesus and his disciples.
They know that a direct approach is not appropriate and that they need
to catch the ear of one of the disciples as a sponsor. They choose Philip whose Greek name may well
mean that he has some familiarity with the Greek language and culture.
Once
they’ve got Philip’s ear, these Gentiles make a dangerous request, one that has
the potential to change their lives completely and to challenge the status quo:
‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’ In John’s
gospel to ‘see’ Jesus is to ‘believe’ in Jesus and to seek to follow Jesus as
Lord. Jesus’ answer may seem a bit
strange: ‘The hour has come for the Son
of Man to glorified.’ These Gentiles may have caught Philip's ear, but now Jesus has caught their lives.
The
glory Jesus speaks of here is the glory that comes when non-Jewish believers in
God realize that in Jesus God has come into our midst. Imagine the outrage that some of Jesus’
Jewish followers must have felt. Most
Jews in the time of Jesus did not think much of Gentiles. Paul often writes about this in his letters
to the various churches and, at times, even gives way to his own native dislike
of Gentile customs and attitudes.
With
non-Jews approaching Jesus’ disciples and asking to ‘see’ Jesus, to become
followers of the Way that Jesus shows us and lives for us, all the windows and
doors are thrown open. Every human
being, Jew and non-Jew, male and female, slave and free, is welcome to become a
member of the community that confesses Jesus as Lord. Ethnic origins, gender and social status no
longer define who is ‘in’ and who is ‘out’.
All the membership tests that human communities have used since the
beginning of our species to identify friend from foe no longer apply if one
‘sees’ Jesus and believes in the good news.
Everything
now changes. The religious status quo
cannot be maintained. God’s mission in
Jesus is shown to be universal, reaching out to all of humanity, reaching out
in all times and in all places.
Never
underestimate how the good news of God in Jesus of Nazareth comes as bad news
to many in our world. It should come as
no surprise to us that this proclamation of self-giving love is a threat to
those whose status is defined by wealth, power and prestige. Just think for a moment how often we are
pleasantly surprised when someone with great wealth or great influence stoops
down from high and helps someone who has little wealth or influence. Just recently a teacher won $1,000,000 when
she was named one of the finest teachers in the world. She donated the whole amount to the school
she founded; but I cannot help but think that there were a few voices in the
audience said, under their breath, ‘She’s a fool.’
The good
news of God in Jesus of Nazareth is very bad news indeed to those who use
ethnicity, gender and social status as means of control. The message of the cross proclaims that God sacrifices
God’s very self in order to restore a loving and compassionate relationship
between human beings and the One in whose image we are made. The message of the cross proclaims that when
Christians gather to share in the eucharist we do not do so for ourselves
alone. In this eucharist today God opens
our eyes to God’s hand at work in the world about us. We are delivered from the presumption of
coming to this table for solace only and not for strength, for pardon only and
not renewal. In this eucharist we are
made one body, one spirit in Christ, so that we may serve the world in the name
of self-giving love. [1]
Francis
Underwood may think that such a God is a fool.
The purveyors of prejudice, oppression and death throughout the world
may think our God is a fool. Those who
benefit from ethnic conflict, sexism and social inequality may think any
followers of such a God are fools. But God is not a fool. Our shared humanity is more powerful than
isolation. The wonder of being male and
female, a physical embodiment of God’s own mystery, is more powerful than
discrimination. The realization that we
are all dependent upon one another, that we are all made in the image of God
and are entitled to dignity, is more powerful than any class privilege.
The
truth is that you and I know who has God’s ear --- God’s people when we are united
in prayer and action, drawn together by love and compassion made known to us
upon the cross by the one who is our way, our truth and our life.
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