I remember vividly an episode from my teenage years. Like all teenagers, I had a rebellious streak. I didn’t want to abide by all of the rules and impositions my parents had instituted. I wanted to stretch my wings. Do the things that I wanted to do. I was very much like most teens in the world. And on one such occasion, I lost my temper. I wanted to do a particular thing–I don’t remember what it was–and I was denied. I threw a fit.
And my dad responded, “Whenever you think you are grown enough to do what you want to do, just pack your suitcase and leave.”
I went to my room and pulled out my suitcase. And then I began to plan. I had exactly $274 in my wallet. I would go to my friend Kevin’s house. It was a long walk, but I could make it. I would ask to stay there. But what then? Would they let me stay long term? Would they feed me? Would they buy me clothes? What would happen if I spent all my money and had nothing left? What would happen then? Where would I find myself. Visions of standing at the end of a sidewalk with no place to go, no place to stay, broke and alone filled my head.
I put my suitcase up.
Maybe you can relate, but I want to intentionally shift the focus of this story, because I don’t want us to think about us for the time being. I want to shift the focus of this story to my dad. Because it is only in hindsight that I can see what my dad was doing. He was giving me up. I worded that last sentence very carefully. My dad was not giving up on me. He was giving me up. Essentially he was saying, “If you want your freedom, take it! There is the door. Go!”
Even though I didn’t know what my dad was doing at the time, when I began thinking about it, it scared the hell out of me. I realized I still needed my parents. Freedom wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
What would happen if God granted us that freedom? What if God gave us up? We don’t have to wonder what would happen. We know. We have a biblical history of what that looks like, and that biblical history informs St. Paul as he continues laying out his condemnation of humankind in the book of Romans. Once again, I warn you, this journey is a dark journey for a while. We will travel in darkness before we see the light. And once again–like last week–I offer my apologies in advance. We will not get to Jesus’ saving action today. We will not hear John 3:16-17. Our hearts must be prepared to hear the Gospel. As I said last week, by the time we are done with the next two chapters either our hearts will be hardened so that we no longer want anything to do with God, or they will be crushed to the point that we rediscover just how amazing God’s love through Jesus is. We will rediscover amazing grace.
Last week, I ended my sermon revealing how we are deserving of God’s wrath because we do not honor or worship Him as God. We chase our idols of family, wealth, status, free time, government, and the like. We chase them because we believe they will bring us fulfillment. We believe they will bring us safety and security. We believe they will bring us true life. But they do not. They lead us down a path of destruction. Deep down, there is a part of us that knows this, but as Paul said last week, we deceive ourselves. We tell ourselves that we are just fine–that there is nothing wrong with what we do or what we live for. Stubbornly, we cling to our idols.
And this is where Paul continues today. Verse 24, “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves, 25because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen.” God said, “If you want your freedom to follow your heart’s desire, you have it. Go get it!” One commentator said it best. God did not simply give us freedom. No, that would mean we would be without desire and free to choose whatever we wanted. God gave us the freedom to pursue the lusts of our hearts. Not only did God say, “Go pack your suitcase.” Essentially God said, “Here, let’s pack. And then after helping you pack, He shoved you out the door.” Sometimes there is no reasoning. Sometimes there is no begging and pleading. Sometimes there is no sitting down in a rational, loveable manner and showing another the consequences of his or her actions. Sometimes a heart is hell bent on trying to get what it wants, and no matter what you say; no matter what you do; you will not prevent a person from trying to get it.
Have you ever tried to keep an alcoholic from getting another drink?
Have you ever tried to keep an addict from taking another hit?
Have you ever tried to keep a sexual pervert away from porn?
Have you ever tried to keep a Cowboy’s fan from reliving the 90's? Okay, perhaps that last one wasn’t fair.
But you know the futility. You know the impossibility. And if you have ever reached your wits end, you know what it is to give a person up. You know what it is to let that person go on in his or her self-destructive behavior. And if you are angry enough, you push them toward rock bottom.
When humanity decided to worship the creature instead of the creator because of the stubbornness and warping of their hearts, God gave them up.
Verse 26, For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, 27and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error. I can hear the thoughts of some of you. “Oh, here we go. Time for some gay bashing.” I can hear the thoughts of others, “Now, it’s time to bring the hammer on the gay agenda and show them what God really feels toward those sinners. Time to tell them to repent of their sinfulness or end up in hell.”
First off, there will be no gay bashing–unless you call explaining what Paul says here gay bashing. And a Christian is not allowed to bash anyone–much less condemn a person to hell, so don’t expect me to do that either. These verses have been used as clobber verses toward gay people, and when used in such a fashion, they drive people away from the Good News. They drive people away from Jesus. This must never be our purpose. But we must not shy away from what Paul is conveying in these words either. He is making a very salient point.
More than a few scholars find it odd that Paul begins with homosexual acts for aren’t there other commands–other revelations of God which are seemingly more important? I mean, Paul himself argues later in Romans and in the book of Galatians that the entire law can be summed up in one great command, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Why not begin with that command? Why begin with homosexual, sexual relations?
In this section of the book of Romans, Paul is showing us what happens when God gives us up. Paul is showing us what happens when God gives us the freedom to pursue the warped desires of our hearts. Paul is showing us the consequences of what happens when we replace God with idols. Nearly every scholar I consulted for this sermon agreed that the finely woven fabric of what God created begins to fray and come unraveled when we don’t have God in His proper place. Nearly every scholar said that when God is not the center of our lives and worship, then our lives begin to descend into chaos. God’s created order unravels. This is important. Let me say it again. God’s created order unravels.
So why start with homosexual behavior? Let me ask you a question: what is the first recorded command in the Bible? What is the first thing that God told humankind after He created them? Do you remember?
Let’s take a look. Please pick up the Bibles in your pews and turn to Genesis chapter one. For those of you who have forgotten the books of the Bible, knock the dust off, and turn to page one... Skip down to verse 27, and let’s read verses 27 and 28 together, “27 So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”
So, what is God’s initial command to humanity? “Be fruitful and multiply and have stewardship over the earth.” Can a man and a man be fruitful and multiply? Can a woman and a woman be fruitful and multiply? You know the answer to that question. And before anyone starts in on me: yes, I am aware that there are couples who cannot have children, and no one thinks they are sinning. I am aware there are people who actively work to make sure they have no more children, including myself and no one causes a stir. But this isn’t about having children or not having children. It’s about how God ordered creation and how that order is maintained. Homosexuality is against that created order, and it contradicts the very first command given to humanity–a command which was issued BEFORE the giving of the Law to the Jewish people–a command woven into the very fabric of creation.
Paul begins with homosexuality for these reasons. Not that it is above other sins. Not that it is because homosexuality condemns a person to hell. I mean, as Timothy Keller says, “I know very well that heterosexuality doesn’t get you to heaven.” Not that it is to be the focus of the church’s activity in the world. Paul shows that when the Creator is replaced, even the most basic order of creation begins to be violated.
And then, it gets really, really bad. Verse 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind and to things that should not be done. 29They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, 30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious towards parents, 31foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die—yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them. God gave them up to pursue the desires of their hearts, and in doing so, their minds became debased; warped; unhinged. The created order began to suffer even more. Take another look at that list of vices that St. Paul puts forward. Tell me that you have managed to escape every one of those vices. Tell me you have been able to avoid such things your whole life through. Tell me that to this day, you never boast, become greedy, spread gossip, or get upset at what someone else has. Tell me that you are not under the power of sin. Even you are corrupt and violate God’s natural order of things. God has given you over to the freedom to pursue the desires of your heart.
And the picture of reality isn’t pretty. Think about a world full of those vices. Think about a world full of people who are greedy, selfish, envious, foolish, faithless, heartless, and ruthless. Think about a world full of strife, deceit, murder, slander, and gossip. Think about a world where people applaud you for getting away with evil–where people encourage you to give into your every desire; where people affirm every decision you make whether it seem good or bad; where people call you a prude for doing good. Where people long for the hero to fall and gleefully laugh when he does. Would you like to live in that world? Do you believe that we thrive in such a world? Would you agree that a world like that could be described as hell?
When God gives us up to the freedom to pursue the desires of our hearts, then that’s exactly where we end up. Hell is not simply a reality after we die. It’s already here. It takes place when we replace God with idols. It takes place when we demand our freedom from God’s rule. God says, “Okay. Let me help you pack your bags. Let me walk you out the door. Good luck.” Continue down the path, and sooner rather than later, we will find ourselves at the end of some God-forsaken sidewalk with nowhere to go; nothing to do; alone; abandoned–in hell. Amen.
Showing posts with label homosexuality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homosexuality. Show all posts
Monday, September 19, 2016
Sunday, June 19, 2016
The Cause of Mass Murder: A Heart Condition
Many of you are probably sick and tired of hearing about the shooting in Orlando, Florida. You’ve heard all the arguments about Islamic terrorism; the acceptance of gays and lesbians, and the calls for gun control. You’ve heard the same pundits say the same things that they said after Sandy Hook and San Bernardino. You’ve probably heard several religious leaders rush in to speak and offer their thoughts, prayers, and assertions of what we should do. You’ve heard crickets from me. I’ve been silent, and you may wonder why.
I have become more and more convinced that we do ourselves a deep disservice by failing to take the time to reflect and think about things that happen and what we say in response to those things. I have become more and more convinced that the 24 hour news cycle and the need to control the narrative have actually done more harm than good. Instead of allowing fear, anger and grief to subside and clear thought to occur, our comments are instead governed by fear, anger, and grief. You might ask, “What’s so bad about that?” I respond, “How many times have you done something in anger that you later regretted?” Odds are, the answer is not a pretty one.
And so, I hope that this morning, I will not be speaking in anger, or grief, or fear. I hope I am speaking with love, compassion, and hope. I hope that I am speaking the truth in love and am neither a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. I hope that I can speak at a level much deeper than guns or sexuality or religion. I hope that I can dig down and address the level of the human heart–the level where hatred arises and where massacres get their grounding.
For it is my sincere belief that if you have trouble understanding why someone had enough hatred to kill 50 people and wound 50 others, then I would submit that you neither understand human history; human nature; or what lies in the deep recesses of your own heart. For the human story is full of violence, hatred, and murder–even and especially toward the innocent.
The Christian narrative is not shy about confronting this reality. In fact, addressing violence and hatred are woven into the fabric of Jesus’ story–particularly His death. For Jesus was a victim of such hatred and such violence.
We pick up this morning in Mark chapter 15 right after Pontius Pilate has had Jesus flogged and handed over to be crucified. We must take just a moment to understand now what is happening to Jesus. We know He is innocent. We know Pilate has condemned Jesus to save his job. We know the crowd is blood-thirsty because they feel like Jesus has betrayed them and given them false hope. Pilate begins the blood letting through flogging.
Roman flogging was violent and nasty. If you have seen Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ”, you have gotten a visual image of what such flogging was like. The Romans would take a whip composed of several leather straps. Embedded in these straps were pieces of bone or metal, and then this was used to whip a prisoner all over his or her body. Pieces of flesh would be ripped from the person. Oftentimes bone was exposed. The front and back of the body were flogged sometimes resulting in a person’s guts becoming exposed. I would apologize for the visual images, but I want you to see and know the extent of the cruelty that Jesus faced. I want you to know the pain that he endured at the hands of fellow humans. He was bound. He was naked. He was helpless. He had committed no crime, and yet, he was brutally beaten and had his flesh ripped open by this flogging. And this was just the beginning of His humiliation.
After the flogging, Pilate handed Jesus over to the Roman soldiers, and they all took turns mocking Him. They placed a purple robe over him. They placed a crown of thorns upon his head. They mocked Him and struck Him. They made fun of the claim that he was King of the Jews. He looked like no king. He acted like no king. He was no king to them. They took a reed and hit him up beside the head with it, driving the thorns deeper into his skull. Blood ran freely down Jesus’ face. Then, they spit upon Him. They knelt before Him and said, “Hail, king of the Jews!” Of course both of these actions were mockery. The spitting was an imitation of the kisses they would give the emperor. Their statement “Hail, king of the Jews!” was an imitation of the “Hail Caesar!” they would proclaim to their real king. They had no respect; no compassion; only hatred and animosity toward Jesus. After they had had their fun, they took off the purple robe. Understand that the blood from the flogging would have coagulated on this robe, so when they ripped it off, it would have caused severe pain and the blood to begin flowing once again. This is humanity at its worse.
Then, they put the cross-bar on Jesus’ back and made him carry it toward Golgatha. Understand this: Jesus has had no sleep. He has been flogged and has lost copious amounts of blood. He hasn’t eaten. He is tired, wounded beyond belief, and weak. He is now expected to carry a 30 or 40 pound piece of wood on his bloody, beaten back raked by bone, metal, and leather. This is complete and utter cruelty.
He heads to Calvary. He isn’t going to make it. He is too tired. Too weary. Too weak. The walk carrying the cross-bar will kill him, but that would deprive everyone of seeing Jesus die humiliated. The Roman escort calls upon a bystander–Simon of Cyrene father of Rufus and Alexander to carry the cross for Jesus. Mark probably includes these names because these folks were well known in the early church and were witnesses to these things. Mark is saying, “If you want to know whether or not this is true, ask them.” Simon carries Jesus’ cross for Him, and they arrive at Calvary where one more indignation will be heaped upon Jesus.
N.T. Wright, biblical scholar says this:
The cross was a political symbol long before it became a religious symbol. Pilate knew the crowds knew, the chief priests knew, and Jesus knew, what it meant. It was the ultimate symbol of Roman power. It said, “We are in charge here, and this is what happens when people get in our way.” They had crucified thousands of rebel Jews when Jesus was a boy in Galilee. They would crucify thousands more when they took Jerusalem in AD70–so many they got bored, and experimented with hanging people up in different positions and attitudes until they ran out of wood. And in between those two devastating repressions of revolts they crucified lots of people for a variety of reasons, often on small pretexts. Polite Romans didn’t even mention the word “crucifixion” or “cross”. The reality was so brutal, ugly and repellant.
This is what Jesus is nailed to. It carried an even worse meaning for the Jews. William Lane writes in his commentary:
The public exposure of an executed person branded him as one cursed by God, in accordance with the provision of Deuteronomy 21:23: “for he is accursed of God who hangs on a tree.” These words were applied equally to one who was crucified. When the chief priests and the crowd demanded death by crucifixion for Jesus they expressed the conviction that he must take his last breath on the cross as one “accursed by God.”
And those standing watching the proceedings treated Jesus as if He were accursed by God. They mocked Him. They used the sayings of the false witnesses against Him. They dressed their words in piety, “If he comes down from the cross, then we will believe in him.” And then the piece de resistance, “He saved others, but He cannot save Himself.” And there is a bitter truth in that statement–a bitter truth indeed.
Walter Liefield says this about that statement, “Their statement ‘he can’t save himself’ is both false and true. In the sense they meant it–he does not have the power–it is false. But in a profound sense, if Jesus was to fulfill his messianic mission, he could not save himself. His death was necessary for man’s redemption.”
For it is on the cross that the God immanent is redeeming the world. It is on the cross that the God immanent is working to change the hearts of men so that they turn from violence and hatred. It is on the cross that the God immanent is showing a love beyond measure–a love which is intended to melt even the hardest heart. It is on the cross that the God immanent confronts violence and hatred and dehumanization and responds with the words, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”
The question becomes how does this happen? How does Jesus’ actions on the cross lead us to have changed hearts?
Let’s consider the issue of hate crimes and the cruelty of mass murder. What causes such things? Is it religious ideology and firmly held convictions? No. The Amish are some of the strictest religious adherents in the world, and they don’t kill anyone. Just having firm convictions will not lead you to kill someone. Is it access to weapons? Again, no. Some of the areas with the highest concentrations of weapons have the lowest instances of murder and crime. Is it viewing another’s actions as wrong that causes mass murder? Again, no. We categorically call other people’s actions as wrong all the time, but we do not generally go around killing another person because we disagree with them. None of these things grasp the reality. The reality is what Timothy Keller calls the slippery slope of the heart.
For you see, in the slippery slope of the heart what happens is that I look at another person and see what they are doing. I judge them as wrong, AND I feel morally or ethically superior to the other. I feel like I am a better person; a stronger intellectual; in a higher plane of spiritual or moral thought. As I look at the other person with this air of superiority, I begin to caricature the other people. I only emphasize their flaws. I make blanket statements that do not encapsulate the entirety of the person. Once I begin this caricature process, the other person or group becomes less than human. They become less than me. They deserve punishment or to be silenced or even to be killed. What leads people to murder people in mass is a heart condition where someone feels morally superior to another.
The Orlando shooter felt morally superior to the folks he killed. The Sanhedrin felt morally superior to Jesus. The Romans felt morally superior to Jesus and to the thousands of other Jews that they crucified. Once they felt this, it was not long before each of these was able to dehumanize and then treat the other as less than human committing atrocity after atrocity after atrocity.
And each of us believes at some level we are morally superior than others. Each of us at some level believes our particular position on given issues are right. Each of us believes that if everyone just believed as we believed and did what we did then the world would turn out okay. Each of us is apt to point the finger at others as the ones who need to change and conform because, by God, we are the ones who have it right. And the answer is not to throw right and wrong out the window. The answer is not to throw truth claims out the window. For heaven’s sake. If we did that, then we would never be able to judge mass murder as wrong!! Think about that!!!
The answer lies at the heart of the Gospel. The answer lies at the heart of why Jesus could not save Himself. The answer is that we are all moral failures. The answer is that we are all morally inferior. As St. Paul put it, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” And we cannot save ourselves. If we could save ourselves, then we would have a reason to boast. We would have a reason to feel morally superior. But we are saved only and solely by God’s grace. We are saved only and solely by God’s love poured out by Jesus on the cross for sinners. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”
If we are all morally inferior, and if we are all saved by sheer grace and by no actions of our own, then we absolutely cannot caricature another person. We absolutely cannot dehumanize another person. We share intimately with others the same condition. We share intimately with others the same salvation. We are all sinners. We are all saints. The dividing line is that there are those who have not come to the realization of the Gospel. There are those who do not know their brokenness and so they feel morally superior. There are those who do not know they are loved and so all they feel is self-loathing. It is our job as those who have met our dying Savior hanging on that cross to lead others to Him. It is our job to lead others to the God incarnate who will humble them and reveal to them their sin and then who will embrace them with nail scarred hands. And when this occurs, their hearts, hopefully like ours, will be transformed. Their self-righteousness will leave. Their views of others will change, and hatred will cease. Simply telling another person to stop hating will not change anything. Getting others to Jesus will. Amen.
I have become more and more convinced that we do ourselves a deep disservice by failing to take the time to reflect and think about things that happen and what we say in response to those things. I have become more and more convinced that the 24 hour news cycle and the need to control the narrative have actually done more harm than good. Instead of allowing fear, anger and grief to subside and clear thought to occur, our comments are instead governed by fear, anger, and grief. You might ask, “What’s so bad about that?” I respond, “How many times have you done something in anger that you later regretted?” Odds are, the answer is not a pretty one.
And so, I hope that this morning, I will not be speaking in anger, or grief, or fear. I hope I am speaking with love, compassion, and hope. I hope that I am speaking the truth in love and am neither a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. I hope that I can speak at a level much deeper than guns or sexuality or religion. I hope that I can dig down and address the level of the human heart–the level where hatred arises and where massacres get their grounding.
For it is my sincere belief that if you have trouble understanding why someone had enough hatred to kill 50 people and wound 50 others, then I would submit that you neither understand human history; human nature; or what lies in the deep recesses of your own heart. For the human story is full of violence, hatred, and murder–even and especially toward the innocent.
The Christian narrative is not shy about confronting this reality. In fact, addressing violence and hatred are woven into the fabric of Jesus’ story–particularly His death. For Jesus was a victim of such hatred and such violence.
We pick up this morning in Mark chapter 15 right after Pontius Pilate has had Jesus flogged and handed over to be crucified. We must take just a moment to understand now what is happening to Jesus. We know He is innocent. We know Pilate has condemned Jesus to save his job. We know the crowd is blood-thirsty because they feel like Jesus has betrayed them and given them false hope. Pilate begins the blood letting through flogging.
Roman flogging was violent and nasty. If you have seen Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ”, you have gotten a visual image of what such flogging was like. The Romans would take a whip composed of several leather straps. Embedded in these straps were pieces of bone or metal, and then this was used to whip a prisoner all over his or her body. Pieces of flesh would be ripped from the person. Oftentimes bone was exposed. The front and back of the body were flogged sometimes resulting in a person’s guts becoming exposed. I would apologize for the visual images, but I want you to see and know the extent of the cruelty that Jesus faced. I want you to know the pain that he endured at the hands of fellow humans. He was bound. He was naked. He was helpless. He had committed no crime, and yet, he was brutally beaten and had his flesh ripped open by this flogging. And this was just the beginning of His humiliation.
After the flogging, Pilate handed Jesus over to the Roman soldiers, and they all took turns mocking Him. They placed a purple robe over him. They placed a crown of thorns upon his head. They mocked Him and struck Him. They made fun of the claim that he was King of the Jews. He looked like no king. He acted like no king. He was no king to them. They took a reed and hit him up beside the head with it, driving the thorns deeper into his skull. Blood ran freely down Jesus’ face. Then, they spit upon Him. They knelt before Him and said, “Hail, king of the Jews!” Of course both of these actions were mockery. The spitting was an imitation of the kisses they would give the emperor. Their statement “Hail, king of the Jews!” was an imitation of the “Hail Caesar!” they would proclaim to their real king. They had no respect; no compassion; only hatred and animosity toward Jesus. After they had had their fun, they took off the purple robe. Understand that the blood from the flogging would have coagulated on this robe, so when they ripped it off, it would have caused severe pain and the blood to begin flowing once again. This is humanity at its worse.
Then, they put the cross-bar on Jesus’ back and made him carry it toward Golgatha. Understand this: Jesus has had no sleep. He has been flogged and has lost copious amounts of blood. He hasn’t eaten. He is tired, wounded beyond belief, and weak. He is now expected to carry a 30 or 40 pound piece of wood on his bloody, beaten back raked by bone, metal, and leather. This is complete and utter cruelty.
He heads to Calvary. He isn’t going to make it. He is too tired. Too weary. Too weak. The walk carrying the cross-bar will kill him, but that would deprive everyone of seeing Jesus die humiliated. The Roman escort calls upon a bystander–Simon of Cyrene father of Rufus and Alexander to carry the cross for Jesus. Mark probably includes these names because these folks were well known in the early church and were witnesses to these things. Mark is saying, “If you want to know whether or not this is true, ask them.” Simon carries Jesus’ cross for Him, and they arrive at Calvary where one more indignation will be heaped upon Jesus.
N.T. Wright, biblical scholar says this:
The cross was a political symbol long before it became a religious symbol. Pilate knew the crowds knew, the chief priests knew, and Jesus knew, what it meant. It was the ultimate symbol of Roman power. It said, “We are in charge here, and this is what happens when people get in our way.” They had crucified thousands of rebel Jews when Jesus was a boy in Galilee. They would crucify thousands more when they took Jerusalem in AD70–so many they got bored, and experimented with hanging people up in different positions and attitudes until they ran out of wood. And in between those two devastating repressions of revolts they crucified lots of people for a variety of reasons, often on small pretexts. Polite Romans didn’t even mention the word “crucifixion” or “cross”. The reality was so brutal, ugly and repellant.
This is what Jesus is nailed to. It carried an even worse meaning for the Jews. William Lane writes in his commentary:
The public exposure of an executed person branded him as one cursed by God, in accordance with the provision of Deuteronomy 21:23: “for he is accursed of God who hangs on a tree.” These words were applied equally to one who was crucified. When the chief priests and the crowd demanded death by crucifixion for Jesus they expressed the conviction that he must take his last breath on the cross as one “accursed by God.”
And those standing watching the proceedings treated Jesus as if He were accursed by God. They mocked Him. They used the sayings of the false witnesses against Him. They dressed their words in piety, “If he comes down from the cross, then we will believe in him.” And then the piece de resistance, “He saved others, but He cannot save Himself.” And there is a bitter truth in that statement–a bitter truth indeed.
Walter Liefield says this about that statement, “Their statement ‘he can’t save himself’ is both false and true. In the sense they meant it–he does not have the power–it is false. But in a profound sense, if Jesus was to fulfill his messianic mission, he could not save himself. His death was necessary for man’s redemption.”
For it is on the cross that the God immanent is redeeming the world. It is on the cross that the God immanent is working to change the hearts of men so that they turn from violence and hatred. It is on the cross that the God immanent is showing a love beyond measure–a love which is intended to melt even the hardest heart. It is on the cross that the God immanent confronts violence and hatred and dehumanization and responds with the words, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”
The question becomes how does this happen? How does Jesus’ actions on the cross lead us to have changed hearts?
Let’s consider the issue of hate crimes and the cruelty of mass murder. What causes such things? Is it religious ideology and firmly held convictions? No. The Amish are some of the strictest religious adherents in the world, and they don’t kill anyone. Just having firm convictions will not lead you to kill someone. Is it access to weapons? Again, no. Some of the areas with the highest concentrations of weapons have the lowest instances of murder and crime. Is it viewing another’s actions as wrong that causes mass murder? Again, no. We categorically call other people’s actions as wrong all the time, but we do not generally go around killing another person because we disagree with them. None of these things grasp the reality. The reality is what Timothy Keller calls the slippery slope of the heart.
For you see, in the slippery slope of the heart what happens is that I look at another person and see what they are doing. I judge them as wrong, AND I feel morally or ethically superior to the other. I feel like I am a better person; a stronger intellectual; in a higher plane of spiritual or moral thought. As I look at the other person with this air of superiority, I begin to caricature the other people. I only emphasize their flaws. I make blanket statements that do not encapsulate the entirety of the person. Once I begin this caricature process, the other person or group becomes less than human. They become less than me. They deserve punishment or to be silenced or even to be killed. What leads people to murder people in mass is a heart condition where someone feels morally superior to another.
The Orlando shooter felt morally superior to the folks he killed. The Sanhedrin felt morally superior to Jesus. The Romans felt morally superior to Jesus and to the thousands of other Jews that they crucified. Once they felt this, it was not long before each of these was able to dehumanize and then treat the other as less than human committing atrocity after atrocity after atrocity.
And each of us believes at some level we are morally superior than others. Each of us at some level believes our particular position on given issues are right. Each of us believes that if everyone just believed as we believed and did what we did then the world would turn out okay. Each of us is apt to point the finger at others as the ones who need to change and conform because, by God, we are the ones who have it right. And the answer is not to throw right and wrong out the window. The answer is not to throw truth claims out the window. For heaven’s sake. If we did that, then we would never be able to judge mass murder as wrong!! Think about that!!!
The answer lies at the heart of the Gospel. The answer lies at the heart of why Jesus could not save Himself. The answer is that we are all moral failures. The answer is that we are all morally inferior. As St. Paul put it, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” And we cannot save ourselves. If we could save ourselves, then we would have a reason to boast. We would have a reason to feel morally superior. But we are saved only and solely by God’s grace. We are saved only and solely by God’s love poured out by Jesus on the cross for sinners. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”
If we are all morally inferior, and if we are all saved by sheer grace and by no actions of our own, then we absolutely cannot caricature another person. We absolutely cannot dehumanize another person. We share intimately with others the same condition. We share intimately with others the same salvation. We are all sinners. We are all saints. The dividing line is that there are those who have not come to the realization of the Gospel. There are those who do not know their brokenness and so they feel morally superior. There are those who do not know they are loved and so all they feel is self-loathing. It is our job as those who have met our dying Savior hanging on that cross to lead others to Him. It is our job to lead others to the God incarnate who will humble them and reveal to them their sin and then who will embrace them with nail scarred hands. And when this occurs, their hearts, hopefully like ours, will be transformed. Their self-righteousness will leave. Their views of others will change, and hatred will cease. Simply telling another person to stop hating will not change anything. Getting others to Jesus will. Amen.
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