At The Cross: The Cross Matthew 27:32-44 / John 3:16-17 (Wednesday Lenten Reflection)
Why do folks offer hugs? They are an act of affection, an act of
welcome, an act of love, an act of support, an act of encouragement, and a
means of drawing one close.
What is the first thing we have to do to offer a
hug? We have to open up our arms. We cannot offer a hug with our arms crossed
in front of our chest. We cannot offer a
hug with our hands planted firmly in our pockets. We cannot offer a hug with our hands and arms
rigidly by our sides. We have to open up
and reach out.
In the act of opening up our arms to offer a hug, we
make ourselves vulnerable. Physically we
are vulnerable because we have exposed our chest, our abdomen, our sides. We are easy targets for an attack at this
point. Emotionally we are vulnerable
because the person we are offering to embrace can reject the embrace or refuse to
return it—rejecting our support, our encouragement, our love, and our care.
We often talk about God as All-Powerful, All-Knowing,
All-Everything…and He is. And yet, our
God is a vulnerable God. God is
vulnerable not because that is part of His nature, but because God chooses to
be. Because God chooses to love, God
chooses to be vulnerable. He chooses to
allow us to accept or reject that love…and as we come to the close of our
journey through the gifts found at the cross, the cross itself reveals just how
vulnerable God is willing to make Himself to show us His love.
Now I am not trying to equate Christ’s outstretched
arms on the cross as nothing more than God wanting to give us a hug…because that
would be to trivialize the significance of what we find at the cross.
The cross is where God’s justice and mercy meet. Think of the vertical beam of the cross as
God’s holy demand for justice…God’s expectation of us to choose him and live in
accordance to His Will and the expectation that a penalty must be paid when we
choose not to…and the penalty, the wages, for sin, for rejecting God is death[i]. God’s justice demands death for sin. Yet the cross is not made up of just the
vertical beam, there is a horizontal beam as well…the horizontal beam can
remind us of God’s mercy…for while God’s justice demands death, God’s mercy offers
life. God’s desire is that all might
come into a relationship with him…in fact 2nd Peter reminds us that
God’s does not want any to perish, but all to come to repentance.[ii] It is where that justice and mercy meet on
the cross that God says, “I will pay the penalty for your sin…I will die in
your place…that you might live with me forever.”
It is at the cross that we find God’s love…God’s love
of you, God’s love of me, and God’s love of so many more. How many more? Try the entire world. John reminds us that Jesus came because God
“so loved the world.” Want to understand
how powerful that is? It is easy for us
to sit here and look around the table and think, “yeah, I can see how God loves
each of us.” But that is not what it
says. It says, “for God so loved the
world.” I have heard pastor’s challenge
members of their congregations to take John 3:16 and personalize it. They want each person to say, “For God so
loved Lee, that he sent His only begotten Son….” I want to challenge you to personalize it as
well…but I want us to understand just how great God’s love is when expressed on
that cross where justice and mercy come together...an understanding that has
the potential to transform us by the renewing of our minds, as Paul says.[iii] I want you to think of the person you would
consider now to be your worst enemy.
Don’t have an enemy? Simply think
of the person you have the hardest time getting along with. Still a struggle? Think of a national or international
enemy—maybe Assad or Jong-un. Now
personalize John 3:16-17 this way: “For God so loved _______ (the person you
have in your mind) that he gave his only Son, so that if _________ believes in
him, ________ may not perish but have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the
world to condemn _________, but in order that ________ might be saved through
him.” Take a moment…repeat it to
yourself again…let it sink in… That’s how great and powerful the love of God is
where justice and mercy meet…it is called grace…amazing grace…grace greater
than all our sin…
And it is this unfathomable grace that reveals God’s
vulnerability…for grace is a gift freely given to all…the salvation that comes
from Christ is a free gift that God offers to the entire world…He loves the
entire creation that much. And yet,
despite the great price God paid for the gift, God refuses to force us to accept
His mercy…to accept his love. As we
shared with the two thieves, God has offered us free will…He allows us to
choose.
His arms opened wide on that cross, God reveals His
love for the world…His desire to draw all in the world close and embrace everyone…His
support and encouragement for all…His welcome for each member of His creation…
And with God’s love out there, we are free to walk
into that embrace and receive it…or turn and walk away…and God’s love is so
great, He will not even condemn us for walking away…According to the Gospel of
John, God doesn’t condemn anyone to hell…the rejection of God’s love, mercy,
and grace is self-condemnation[iv]
and those who choose to walk away from God’s embrace, choose to walk away from
the only source of life.
My brothers and sisters, may we cherish the gifts that
God has left us at the cross…including the cross itself. May we allow those gifts to transform us from
Jesus’ willingness to bear our spit to Golgotha to the acceptance of the grace
He offers us by dying in our place with His arms stretched wide.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit. Amen.
1) Have you ever considered that God
chooses to make Himself vulnerable?
a. What does that mean to you?
2) How does it transform our thinking to
place our “enemies” name in John 3:16 and 17?
3) What has touched you the most in this
Lenten journey exploring the gifts at the cross?
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