The One
A sermon
delivered by Rev. Peter T. Atkinson
September 6,
2015
at Gordonsville
Presbyterian Church, Gordonsville, Virginia
John 11: 45-57
Genesis 22: 9-14
Let us pray,
Help us to see despite our eyes
Help us to think outside of our minds
Help us to be more than our lives
For your eyes show the way
Your
mind knows the truth
Your
being is the life.
Amen.
45 Many of
the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did,
believed in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told
them what he had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees
called a meeting of the council, and said, “What are we to do? This man is
performing many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone
will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place
and our nation.” 49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest
that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all! 50 You do not
understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to
have the whole nation destroyed.” 51 He did not say this on his own,
but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for
the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but to gather into one
the dispersed children of God. 53 So from that day on they planned
to put him to death.
54 Jesus
therefore no longer walked about openly among the Jews, but went from there to
a town called Ephraim in the region near the wilderness; and he remained there
with the disciples.
55 Now the
Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem
before the Passover to purify themselves. 56 They were looking for
Jesus and were asking one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you
think? Surely he will not come to the festival, will he?” 57 Now the
chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who knew where
Jesus was should let them know, so that they might arrest him. [1]
For the last four weeks we have
stepped through chapter 11 of John's Gospel, taking into consideration, step by
step, the specific details of the story surrounding the raising of Lazarus from
the dead. We've wondered why it was that Jesus waited so long, waiting for
Lazarus to die before heading down to help, we celebrated Martha, saying the
words, being the person to affirm Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God, the one
coming into the world. . . the one. We looked at Jesus weeping, wondering
whether his tears were of compassion mixed with frustration over the words of
faith but not the inner reality of faith being expressed by people. Then we
looked at the miracle itself, thinking about what it would be like to hear from
Lazarus, to hear his perspective. . . The raising of Lazarus is an amazing
miracle, the culmination of this gospel, and the turning point, and since it is
a turning point, this high point should be followed by the lowest of the low,
and it does. This morning's reading encapsulates all of the cynicism that marks
the worst of what human beings are. . . because it is here we hedge our bets,
and sell Jesus short, and then sell Jesus out. . . it marks the beginning of
the end.
"If we let him go on like this,
everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our
holy place and our nation." What does all this mean? How can we control
this? I don't feel safe. It disturbs way too much. We need to get this under
control because this is completely out of control. It is up to us after all to
keep the peace, and preserve our piece of it, it is not about us, it is about
the nation after all our holy place. . . . We need to do something now. Have
you ever that type of talk. . . if not you should watch the news more. From sun
up to sun down you hear it. . . it may not be exactly the same, but it rings of
the same truth. . . .take control of this, do something about that, now is the
time to get it all under control, preserve your status quo. We must do whatever
it takes. . . and look at what it takes. "It is better for one man to be
destroyed than to have the whole nation destroyed." Aha. . . there it is,
a statement that some may call, "The greater good." And afterall we
are not the one, always someone else is.
Caiaphas says it. . . and it says
that he did not say it on his own. . . because obviously it is a prophetic
statement. . . he is telling the rest of the Jesus story, here a bunch of
chapters early. But. . . he doesn't know it. . . and I don't think he's in on
the plan. He isn't knowingly sacrificing Jesus is he? I've never heard the
story told that way. . . no it's like in Jesus Christ Superstar. . . WE NEED A
MORE PERMANENT SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM. . . . he's out for his own interest,
and from a purely practical standpoint, it is better for one to die than all. .
. and sacrifice is certainly part of what Jesus does, part of his definition of
love, for God so loved the world. . . to what to save, to give eternal life,
and to sacrifice. . . but is it Caiaphas' call to place someone in that role?
It is better for the nation than the one, as long as you aren't the one.
Now in human history there have been
many ones. . . people cast aside for the "good" of the nation, the
greater good. . . .Human sacrifice is not something that is new to Jesus
Christ, martyrdom is not something new. Think about Volcano’s and ritual
sacrifices of innocents, think about undesirables placed on the outside as a
buffer for attack. Ancient literature is filled with stories about such
sacrifices, and they are often, the sacrifice is forced into it. People were
shocked in this last season of Game of Thrones when one of the characters
sacrificed his own daughter to appease the gods so that he could win a battle.
. . . but that is a story not only from the fictional fantasy world of westeros,
but from our own legends and history. Homer tells us of Agamemnon, the king of
the Greeks, the leader of the greatest army that had ever been assembled, the
great army that fought on the beaches of Troy for ten years before eventually
being victorious. . . and Agamemnon was told by a priest that if he sacrificed
his daughter, his own daughter, their ships would arrive in Troy safely, and he
does it. . . in the bulletin I put another selection from Homer, this time from
The Odyssey, Odysseus and his crew
have to sail between the Scylla and the Charybdis. The Scylla is a giant sea monster
with 6 heads, picture six heads at the end of six long aggressive necks. . .
and the Charybdis is a maelstrom, a great whirl pool . . . Odysseus, constantly
praised for his practical wisdom, is forced to sacrifice many of his men, so
that he and the rest of the ship can go through. He has to sail just close
enough to the Charybdis to get through without being sucked in, but that means
he has to be close enough to the Scylla for it to devour many of his men. . .
he is praised and celebrated for his wisdom and practical sense . . it was a
situation where he had to do it, afterall. . the show must go on and it is
better to sacrifice some so that others may live. . . some gave all, all gave
some. . . it is how we remember our
soldiers. . . it is better that some die
to preserve the nation. . . again though
others. . . someone else is the some, someone else is the one.
Later
in this gospel Jesus is going to say, in 15:13 No one has greater love than
this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.[2]
So what is necessary for love, what is the full definition
of love. . . what are the ingredients, in this force, this binding principle,
this basis for the very world we live in? I've been studying and building this
definition for years, constantly tinkering and adding, and thinking, trying not
to confine it too much, but to really come to know what love is, on the deepest
level. And if Jesus is our example. . . as this gospel constantly is
suggesting, or not suggesting but screaming. . . then one major piece is sacrifice. . .
because that is what Jesus does. He makes the words of Caiaphas ring true. He
does die so that others may live. . . but Caiaphas is short sighted, he knows
not what he is saying, because he thinks he is making a sacrifice to appease the
Romans. . . the only power he knows, or fears. . . his sacrifice is according
to the world's laws, the practical world. . . the world of power, and force,
and control. They knew that sacrifice was an important weapon, but they did not
know love, because sacrifice is not the only ingredient. They were missing, had
no knowledge of, and completely were ignorant of the other two. For in a world created
by a Trinitarian God, the definition of Love, when God is Love. . . should
rightly have three parts.
Sacrifice
is one. . . I believe Freedom is another. . . and Faith is the third.
Freedom is important within the sacrifice, and that is one
thing that Caiaphas is missing. . . he
wants to control it, he wants to force it, and by forcing it, he can make
someone else do the needed sacrifice. . .
he of course is not willing to sacrifice himself for the nation or the
holy place, no he wants to force Jesus to be that sacrificial lamb, he thinks
that he is bringing Jesus up on charges, that he is pulling the strings. . .
but John's gospel and the others are clear on this. Jesus goes to his cross
willingly. . . at any point he can change his course. . . but he chooses to
submit to it. . . he chooses freely, he chooses to follow the Father’s will, not
my will but thine. There is freedom in that, and I believe that love requires
such freedom, just as does sacrifice. . . for why would any of it matter, else?
Why couldn't God just make us as loving obedient creatures, a perfectly ordered
world, where everything is as He created. . . good, lest freedom be in some way
important. . . as important, more important, than the troubles and trials of
any given moment. . . . This world has seen some devastating things, some
painful things, some aspects of it that really just seem horrible, but God
allows, lets it happen. . . Why else would Jesus go to the cross if freedom was
not important, for if it wasn't he could have simply raised an army, taken over
Rome by force and set up that perfect benevolent dictatorship, he doesn't. . .
and so I believe therefore that freedom is that
important, as important as sacrifice as an ingredient in love. . .
Which leaves faith. . . there is
much faith in giving freedom. . . and there is much faith in believing that
your sacrifice, the sacrifice of yourself, the complete gift of your all, even
your life, for someone else. . . there is great faith in that, that it at
matters, that the person for whom you give your all, might give their all back
to you, or forward, but that they would be complete, and loved, and so alive,
enough to love too. . . not out of
guilt, or custom, but completely free, as we've said. . . there is faith in
giving freedom. . . imagine the faith
that God has in us by giving the love sacrifice of himself on that cross. . . the same sacrifice
he does not force Abraham to give. . .
I sang Perhaps Love as the anthem. .
. and the words dance around what love is, with “some say”
Oh ! Love to some is like a cloud
To some as strong as
steel
For some a way of living
For some a way to feel
And some say love is
holding on
And some say letting go
And some say love is
everything
Some say they don't know
So perhaps there are many different definitions
of love, but if Jesus is our model, if Jesus is our standard. . . consider the definition
of love he shows then in its fullness. . . that in order to love, you must be
free, in order to love you must in your freedom completely sacrifice, give
of your complete self, holding nothing
back, not for your own gain but for others, and in order to love you must
believe that it matters, because how else could you do it. . . if you didn't
believe, then you might as well follow the world’s ways, sacrifice someone
else, make someone else be the one? For God so loved the world, love as I have
loved, God is Love. . . . look at what Jesus does, in the light of this love,
he goes comes not in power, but in humility, not to control, but to teach, to
heal, to serve, to set us free, but he doesn't forcefully remove the
oppression, for force always, even with the best of intentions, replaces
oppression with more oppression, Milton wrote, that force only subdues half a
foe, and so it is not sustainable, for he knows that force is not a part of love,
not a part of the fabric of the world as it was created, but of the world we
have made in sin, so he doesn't force bodies, or minds, but seeks to move
hearts, by loving, setting free, and giving not of others, but of his very
self, dying on the cross, he believes that it matters, else he would have done
it another way, perhaps listening to the devil in the desert, cutting corners,
no he goes to the cross, and he does so, because love, not force is the real
power in the world. . . he shows us that Love transcends the limitations of
this world, even death, imploring us to believe, so that we too, can love, and
feel the complete truth about the way this world was made.
Consider that definition of love,
when you think about Loving God and Loving neighbor, with all your heart, mind,
soul, and strength. . . consider that definition of love when you hear “Love is
all you need”. . . consider that
definition of love even when you say I love you. . . consider that definition
of love when you think about the practical necessity of it being better that
the one perish to save the nation. . . consider that definition of love when
you think about such notions as “the greater good”. . . consider that
definition of love when you think about “God is Love” or for God so loved the
world, or when you sing O how I love Jesus because he first loved me. . . consider
that definition when you think about Jesus leaving the 99 to save, not to
sacrifice, but to save the one. . . and because the standard is all, consider
that definition of love when you confess your sins. . . . and then after you
do, consider that same definition of love, when you are invited, still, personally
to come and feast at the table. . .
amen..
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