On Sunday we had a visiting Priest who said the following words in the early part of his sermon/reflection.

” . . . we are here to worship the Living God . . . “

Those words are still echoing in my mind and heart today.  Along with them is an image etched in my mind – an image of the Crucifix hanging on the wall behind the altar, Jesus – Crucified on the cross, head hanging down, arms stretched wide, a purple cloth draped over the cross bar.

I wonder how often, when people look at images of the Crucifix, they think we are looking at an image of a dead man, or that we are worshipping a dead man?   We often say things that might sound like it.  We say things like, “We preach Christ crucified; Jesus Christ died for me; Jesus died for you; Jesus died for sinners.  Jesus came to die for our sins. Jesus died to set us free.  Jesus died to save us.”

Throughout my life I have continuously met people who have told me of their difficulty believing in Jesus or in God’s love, due in part to the crucifixion they say.  Some have asked why I believe it’s a good thing to talk about.  I have answered that while it is difficult to speak about all the bad things that happened to Jesus in relation to his death, it’s important to talk about because we believe that all things work for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. (I believe we are called to lives of love and compassionate expressions of love)

Some people look at the Cross of Crucifixion and ask:  Can a dead man talk and if a dead man can’t talk, then how can a dead man save us and then how does saying we have been saved through Jesus’ death make any sense?

Indeed, how does it? Dead men can’t talk, so how does saying Jesus’ death by crucifixion saves us make any sense? If Jesus is dead, how can Jesus still be considered the savior of the world?  And if murder is a sin, and Jesus was murdered on a cross then how can any of us think this murderous act has saved us from sin?

We who believe in God in Christ have read and heard James 2:8-13 and so when we look at the cross, we understand not through the life of a dead man, or a dead man’s ears, we understand it through the living God, who is merciful and kind and just.  Who is love in flesh and in all fullness.  We understand the cross of crucifixion through the living God who gave us the command to love God, ourselves and our neighbors as ourselves.

Some people think of sin in a sort of hierarchical structure, as if one sin is worse than another, but it seems to me that the truth is there is no hierarchical order to sin.  One sin leads to another, in fact in James we’re basically told if we’ve committed one sin, if we’ve broken one commandment, we’ve broken them all.   It also seems that some people seem to think one kind of loving action is greater than another – again, I don’t believe that is true.  It seems more that there is no hierarchical order in regards to the loving action that God commands – Jesus (God in the flesh himself), said if anyone gives even a small cup of water to one of the little ones, they won’t lose their reward, and if we clothed one person, we’ve clothed him,  that whatever we do to other people we’ve done to him, so it seems logical to believe that there is no hierarchical order of our actions, they are more differentiated by whether they are sinful or loving. (Matthew 10:42, Matthew 26:34-40)

Sin is sin, whether we stole a dime or a billion dollars, a credit card or a candy bar; whether we’ve killed someone or whether we’ve wished we could or that someone would, or if we’ve said we wished someone would just die.  Whether we committed adultery or wished we could have an affair or if we’ve spied on someone in order to catch them in the act of one kind of sin or another, to our God incarnate, Jesus Christ, it’s all sin.  And this living God clearly told us we are to concern ourselves with taking the log out of our own eye before we attempt to take a speck out of another person’s life.  To God, whether we idolize a cow, money, a movie star, a president, musician, singer or Saint, it’s wrong.  We are not supposed to idolize anyone or anything, including the spiritual gifts of another person.  It’s not just wrong to idolize things or people, let’s call it what it is – sin, because sin is sin.  and if we’ve ever used the Lord’s Name disrespectfully, out of anger, boredom or jokingly, it’s sin and so is failing to set aside appropriate time to spend in resting with the Lord God in mind.  If we ever showed disrespect toward our mother or father, if we’ve ever gossiped or passed along false information it’s a sin and if we’ve ever wished we could have the house, car, land, family, clothes, business or anything that our neighbor owns, well it’s all sin and everybody does it.

Everybody does it!  How often have we heard those words, uttered from young people, grade school through young adulthood – even older adults?  Everybody does it so it’s ok for me to do that too.  After all, we want to fit in, don’t we?  But fitting into sin is not what Jesus calls us to fit into, nor is it what God desires for us.  His plan to prosper us do not include sin.  Sin is not good for anyone.  Jesus called us to fit into God’s family, Jesus called his disciples to fit into a different crowd and Jesus, the living God, still calls us to fitting into a different crowd, into a crowd of people who believe in living with Love in the center of their heart, soul and mind.  People who have their minds focused on setting aside the sins that trap and enslave them to lives that lead to death.  Jesus calls us out of death into life.

And that is why it is so important for us to think about the Living God on the Cross of Crucifixion.  What words were spoken by the Living God about the Crucifixion and from the Cross of Crucifixion?  What did the Living God say about the Crucifixion after His resurrection?  You see, some people do look at the cross with Jesus Christ’s head hanging down and think it doesn’t make any sense that we would hang that cross up on a wall, or that we would worship that dead man named Jesus.  Some people look at the crucifix and ask:  Can a dead man talk?  Can a dead man save anyone?

Think about Jesus on that Crucifex .   How can a dead man talk?  He can’t, but a dying man is still living and so he can talk.  And Jesus did talk. What did Jesus Christ, the living God, say while he was alive?  What did Jesus say while he was living on the Cross?  He is the One who leads us out death into life. Jesus is the One who taught his disciples to pray this way to God in heaven, ‘forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.’  (Luke 11:2-4) It isn’t the Crucifixion that saves us – it is Jesus, who is the Savior of the World, the One who said ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)

This living God, our God incarnate, Jesus Christ, began his ministry teaching, preaching and healing by calling people to “Repent and Believe the Good News.” (Mark 1:15)

The Good News is that God loves people.  The Good News is that Jesus Christ was born to save people from their sin.  The Good News is that we can be saved from sin with God’s help.  The Good News is that with the Holy Spirit living in us we can love people and overcome our sins.  Yes, it is the Love of the Living God that has saved us and continues to save us, moment by moment, day by day.  It is the Love of God and our desire to be united with Him and all those who love as he loves that gives us a desire to keep ourselves from sinning as much as is possible while we live upon this earth.  From generation to generation, in every nation, may the Good News of God’s Loving Mercy continue to be proclaimed.

This Lent, let us worship the Living God who saves us from sin.   AMEN