The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Robert Griffin at
the Sunshine Cathedral on
Sunday, March 29, 2009.
Jesus’ message was considered by many to be very radical, outside the box,
so unlike the norm that whenever and wherever Jesus appeared, people wanted to
see and hear this Jesus person.
Because of Jesus’ interpretation of the scripture, he spoke and taught as
if it was something the people had never heard before. I do not believe Jesus
was a literalist, rather he interpreted the scripture from his perspective and
because of it he actually had a cult like following AND in a few days we will
see how this new approach to scripture that Jesus lived and taught started to
get him in trouble.
Each year at this time we participate in one of the longest, not the
oldest, but longest traditions of the faith community and that is preparing to
tell of the betrayal, the trial, the execution and burial of Jesus. For no one
else do we give such an extended remembrance and I would suggest that we do it
precisely because we have been touched by the radical, out of the box, unlike
the norm teachings of Jesus.
So what was so radical — well let’s do a quick review or highlight from
John that gets us to our passage reading today. First off, John takes us
behind the scenes of Jesus’ ministry — John is our Anderson Cooper; John
writes as if he is a bystander, a reporter of the events of Jesus life. So,
John, written between 90 and 100, does not start off with the birth of Jesus,
he apparently couldn’t be bothered with that story (or maybe he didn’t know of
any such story); rather John starts off by proclaiming Jesus as the Logos or
Word of God.
After he baptized, Jesus calls his first disciple, he then moves on to
perform the miracle of turning water to wine in Cana. Then we see where Jesus
acted up when he cleansed the temple by tossing out the money changers.
Later, Jesus explains to Nicodemus what it means to live an enlightened
life. He says, “God so loved the world that God gave…” God is generous. God
loves. God gives. We respond to this God with joy, not fear, because this God
so loves the whole world that this God gives grace to the whole world.
We go on to find Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well asking for a
drink of water, then we move to where Jesus heals the son of a nobleman, then
we watch Jesus at the pool of Bethesda healing a man who had been infirm for
many years.
John then takes us on journey to a mountain side in Galilee by the sea of
Tiberias, with Jesus where 5,000 are fed. Just as God gives out of love, we
see Jesus teaching us to give out of love. Give food. Give resources. Give
help. Give healing. Give hope. God loves. God gives. And we are children of
God; we are meant to love; to give.
John paints a picture of Jesus walking on water, ending up in Capernaum
teaching; in between all of this Jesus continues to teach wherever he goes. He
stands up for a woman accused of being an adulterous. Because he is so giving,
forgiving, generous, kind, compassionate, accessible… John describes him as
the light of the world! As light, he restores sight to vision impaired man;
the miracle story serving as a metaphor for how the light of love helps us to
see our innate goodness and divine potential.
John then has Jesus pronouncing himself as the Good Shepherd. A shepherd
cares for sheep, keeps them safe. Keeps them alive by not allowing them to
wander off to get hurt or attacked by wolves…then we see the good shepherd
raising Lazarus back to life… perhaps this is a literary device to show that
like a shepherd, Jesus is always trying to help us live as abundantly as
possible. He raises Lazarus to life and we are, as we hear the story, meant to
find ourselves being raised to new experiences of hope and joy.
Finally, we find ourselves hearing Jesus say today, “but I, when I am
lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
So what does that mean? I do not believe that Jesus was speaking literally
of lifting his body up on the executioner’s cross; he was not glorifying an
instrument of torture nor the horrendous violence of crucifixion. John is
speaking metaphorically, not literally… when Jesus’ body was literally raised
on a cross, people ran away in fear and disgust and anguish and grief. His
torture didn’t bring people to him; it caused people to flee. They ran because
they couldn’t stand to see him suffer; they ran because they didn’t want to be
next. We tend to glorify Jesus’ pain in a way that no one who witnessed it
ever could.
But, John does want Jesus lifted up BEYOND the cross. The cross that killed
him didn’t limit him; didn’t rob him of his dignity, couldn’t keep him from
living in our hearts. We lift up Jesus’ memory! We lift up Jesus’ teachings!
We lift up Jesus’ example. And as we come together to lift up Jesus, we are
brought together, together as a community of love and hope and in our
community Jesus still lives and the cross is defeated and is put behind us.
Jesus lives in us as we lift up his compassion, his courage, and his call to
serve God by serving our neighbors.
We can describe Jesus’ time on earth as someone with a magnetic attraction
but with his execution, his magnetic pull increased dramatically because
people realized that the divine life that expressed through Jesus wasn’t
limited to his body! And as we embrace divine life and allow it to express
through us, WE are the body of Christ today! As we lift up the teacher and
live out his teachings, he is with us still, and we continue to do his good
work.
Jesus’ teachings, his example, his life of love and encouragement all
proved to be the water that never runs dry, the best wine at the feast, the
healing touch that restores vitality, the light that brings new ways of
seeing, the food that nourishes both mind and spirit.
When we see Jesus as the great Example rather than as the great Exception,
then we are lifting up his example so that we can follow it and others can
follow it into the light of hope and empowerment as well. We lift us Jesus by
loving as he loved, by caring as he cared, by standing up to injustice, by
resisting war, by speaking truth to power, by caring for the poor, by offering
compassion to the sick, the fearful, the lonely, and forgotten. And we so lift
us Jesus, all people are drawn together in the glory of divine light because
when we love as Jesus loved, we know we are all one, and in that divine unity
all are drawn together.
We lift up Jesus not by giving him lip service, but by giving real service
to our world in his name. And lifting up Jesus in this way draws all people
together, and together we are sharing the light with the world.
Amen.