"Good Friday: What the Lord Cannot Do" March 25, 2005

 

By Dennis Evans - Scripture Readings: Luke 23:32-49; 24:50-56

Imagine that there was a proverb that said, “You can’t use your Kayak and heat it too”. Truth is, it’s no different than a cake.

In this sense God’s in the same boat as we are. Since God is love, and since God loves the world, and since God loves us, he can’t have his kayak and heat it too. God can’t have certain things both ways.

Jesus being God, is in the same kayak. He can’t give us a ride in it and keep it warm at the same time. Since God is love, he can’t not be love. Since Jesus is love, he can’t not be love. If God and his Son live in love toward us, they have to put this first. In the scripture we have read. Since Jesus is love, he must save us, and, to do that, he cannot save himself.

The rulers said, “He saved others, let him save himself if he is the Christ of God.” (Luke 24:35) But that was the one thing that Jesus could not do. That is, he could not save himself if he was determined to do what he came to do.

Let’s see what Jesus came to do, as expressed in his words on the cross. These, by the way, are not all his words on the cross, but they are the ones Luke tells us about.

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” (23:34) If he could have waved his hand to indicate who should be forgiven, he would have waved it over the whole crowd. He would have waved it over the rulers of Israel who had hated him and hunted him and caught him at last and demanded his death on the cross. Jesus would have waved a forgiving hand over the crowd of those who chanted “Crucify! Crucify!” Soldiers. Roman governor’s palace. Friends standing far off. Peter.

What Jesus came to do was to make us forgiven sinners: to see two things, our sins and our forgiveness.

To forgiven us, Jesus made himself the victim of all our sins. The innocent. The vulnerable. It was always said that all sin was truly directed against God. Therefore, only God could truly forgive sins. If anyone would object to this, it became true in Jesus.

The rabbis have sometimes said that a human being can only forgive sins that have injured themselves. A human cannot forgive sins that have injured another. But in Christ all sins have injured God. 

If Jesus had saved himself, he would have had almost nothing to say about forgiveness.

Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (23:43) As humans it is beyond our mere nature to be able to survive death. Jesus was and is stronger than death, if we belong to Jesus, we cross a bridge we could not have built, we pass through a door we could not have opened. If Jesus had saved himself, there would be no bridge, no door.

Jesus said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” (23:46) For Jesus, death was not an act of surrender; it was an act of faith. When we are in Christ this is true for us as well. And it is not exactly the whole truth to say that Jesus was giving his death as a gift. Jesus was giving his life as a gift. His whole life had been that way. When we belong to Jesus we belong to God in our death, and we belong to God in our life too, as long as we live.

If Jesus had saved himself, it could not have been said that he gave himself in his living and dying to God, in faith. And we could not have done this in faith, without him. The fact that he did not save himself is the reason we can live and die with confidence in God, no matter what.

“Seven-Fold Benediction”

 

May the Fruit of the Spirit,

Bring health and nourishment.

May the Gifts of the Spirit,

Enrich your needs and joys.

May the Mind of Christ,

Teach understanding, and decision-making.

May the wounds of Christ,

Walk beside you, embrace you, and wash you.

May the heart of Christ,

Circulate though you a new life, and love.

May the Father Creator;

Show you the design, the process, and the purpose.

May the Father of love:

Declare: “You are very Good”!

(Dennis Evans; February 18, 2023)

Love Me in Winter, Most of All

 

O his Frog was freezing, and so was he,

As the cold snow fell, and the chill wind blew.

So we went to the haberdashery,

For a hat for our saint and Toady too.

Will you love me in Summer, Spring and Fall?

Will you love me in Winter most of all?

 

So, we bought two bonnets and a scarf so fine,

As the cold snow fell, and the chill wind blew.

And Good Albert was glad for folks so kind,

Who will comfort the Saints and Toadies too!

Will you love me in Summer, Spring and Fall?

Will you love me in Winter most of all?

 

(By Dennis Evans, written at Aquinas Institute/ University of Dubuque Theological Seminary om the winter of 1976-1977, to celebrate the decoration of the statue of Saint Albert Magnus, holding Book and Frog/Toad, in a courtyard. The actual knitting was done by a team including: Pat Engstrom, Lori Billings, Terry Thomas, and Gretchen Daneke. Dennis Was a scout acting to protect the team from being seen.)

“ALL HALLOWS”

Embrace the golden splendor where it breaks

From folds of God-washed garments. The shimmering

Harvest of this field of friends ripens in

The light reflected from the light which falls

Upon the broadening crowd. Breathe in reverence!

And whisper wondering, life-awakening words:

Living words inspired by rising beauty.

Contagious witness, praise, ripples the field

Of souls; praise at their glimpse of One enthroned:

“World-Making-Saving-Word!” The unity

(Redemption’s tide) where love and justice meet

With wounded hands (to bring the ransomed home)

Begins the chorus. Sung from one heart,

It spirals to an all-including round,

Resurging, swelling on, in waves of time;

And to the beat of ages echoing.

So, in the Lord’s eternal feast, the share

Of glory, joy, and praise will always grow.

(By Dennis Evans - As seen during an All Saints Day sermon preached by Dr. Paul Francis, at University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, in 1975; revised.)

"2 Corinthians: For Those Who Have Their Treasure in Clay Pots"

A Crown of Thorns

2 Corinthians can play a unique role in spiritual and vocational formation.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul describes the formal components of the Christian message, teachings, and lifestyle in very personal ways and in application to his own life. 

Reconciliation:

Spiritual and incarnational: Christ makes us a new creation, and agents/servants of the new creation, and the righteousness of God: 5:16-21.

1.    1:3-10, God becomes our Comforter (advocate, encourager, reinforcement) in the face of our fear, depression, and failure. My first call provoked what really was a clique that controlled the congregation to get the presbytery to remove me from the church, which seriously hampered my ability to seek further calls. I seemed doomed, and this haunted my ministry for years. How has God reinforced our efforts to face and challenge our fear, depression, and failure?

2.    4:7-18, God grace enables our own reconciliation with our flawed, sinful selves.

3.    1:17-22, God becomes our Hope of victory; all of God’s promises will say “Yes” to us. (Has God made us able to face challenges in hope that your efforts will bear fruit?)

4.    3:12-18; 4:6, God becomes our friend: love and grace and covenant in Christ initiates communion, communication, spiritual perception, friendship. How do we enjoy God’s friendship?

5.    7:2-16, God becomes our reconciliation with others. (The presence of God in Christ enabled me to relate to others without fear.) Has God enabled this in our lives?

Motivation:

Empowerment and Discipline and Humor

1.    Empowerment: 5:1-10, God motivates a faith-based courage, knowing that defeat and loss and the end of important endeavors will not have the last word. (I believed that God was calling me to ministry in the Presbyterian Church and the Church seemed predisposed to rejecting my calling, But God told me I should seek this anyway.) How has God called us to seek what seems guaranteed not to work?

2.    Discipline: 1:11, God motivates prayer: Asking others to pray for us; 12:7-8, maintaining our own repeated prayer for our own growth; 1:15-16, 1:23-2:4 God motivates learning through one’s mistakes and experience. What might these disciplines require of us?

3.    Humor: 11:30-33, God motivates a sense of humor: boasting about being lowered over the city wall in a basket, so laughing at his own troubles and hardships, instead of boasting; 12:8-10, God says “My strength is made perfect in weakness” so I will boast about my weaknesses. (When I first came under care of presbytery in an attempt to be a candidate for the ministry; the loudest voices doubted my stamina for facing adversity or criticism. At my ordination, one of those presented me with a band aide to keep in my wallet for when I might get hurt.) --- How does God assist our motivation to serve by assisting our sense of humor? It’s true that Paul was very capable of making a sarcastic apology, and he does this a lot in 2 Corinthians, especially in 12:11-13. Does sarcasm have a place in Christian life and service? Did Paul have a purpose in this sarcasm?

Incarnation:

How do we embody this work of God in our lives?

1.    Embodiment of the message of the victory of God in Christ through endurance and positive, constructive, and affirming relationships with others: 6:1-11. I never stopped doing this, even with those who don’t accept me. How do we try to do this?

2.    We embody God’s truth through honesty and confession: again see 1:23-2:4.

“Love’s Worth: A Theological Speculation"

I do not know if I know how to love;

Love truly, wholly, and unstoppably.

So, do I, can I, simply give my heart

To be invested in the treasures God

Creates within the lives he shows to me?

I might not love what God has made of me!

The self I do not love – can it love God?

Some say that God loves all, including me.

The Infinite loves all infinitely.

Because of me alone, may this make God

The infinitely unrequited Lover?

 

(Dennis Evans, September 2022)

 

Thomas Merton: "Thoughts in Solitude: VI"

First week in September 2022, I came across these lines in Merton's "Thoughts in Solitude: VI" and felt amazed and deeply moved by them.