The readings for this coming Sunday, April 1 are:Old Testament: Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm: Psalm 31:9-16
Gospel: Luke 22:14-23
Epistle: Philippians 2:5-11
Click here to read them.
Cruciformity
This is one of those weeks when there's too much in the lectionary scripture readings...or perhaps the problem is really that we don't have enough time set aside to talk about them. Our gospel passage we have selected this week is actually a portion of what's really listed in the lectionary.
This Lenten Season, we've really been looking at the scripture passages - Christ's walk to the cross - as an example to us. We've asked ourselves what in the cross is exemplary for the one who follows Christ. We've considered Christ's life as one of cruciformity. Cruciformity refers to the life that conforms to the pattern of the cross.
It's most common that we look at the events of Holy Week as a haunting yet beautiful reminder of what God in Christ has done for us, and this is appropriate. But if we heard the story, if we truly hear the events of Holy Week, we would be challenged by the example of Christ. On Good Friday, when we read and reflect upon the death of Christ - that is the death of God - we must be left wondering why it happened. We're left wondering the age-old question, "Why did Jesus die?"
I talked to several different individuals this week about this question. It is one that scholars, theologians, pastors, and all followers of Christ have pondered since Golgatha. It's one that I imagine the priests manning the Holy of Holies in the Temple that evening asked - "Whoa! What was that?" You can probably imagine the demeanor of the few "faithful" onlookers who were there by Christ when he died, when all that they hoped for, all they invested in, was seemingly squelched when their Christ breathed his last. More than one gospel writer tells us that at least some were impacted by the mystery of what had happened right when Christ died - the local centurion exclaimed almost immediately, "Surely this was the son of God."
One pastor who responded to my question this week had some great insight. Scott Daniels pastors Pasadena First Church of the Nazarene in California. Here's part of what he said:
"Because we (humankind - His creation) rejected him and killed him (and his embodied message of the Kingdom). But rather than responding with the violence that we used to destroy him, Christ embodied the very nature and character of God by forgiving us and allowing us to put him to death. In this ironic way (that is foolishness to every worldly power) Christ revealed the nature of the Kingdom and won the victory over our cycles of sin and death by overcoming evil with good. And now he calls his followers to the same life - to take up their cross daily and follow him."I look forward to worshiping with you all tomorrow as we reflect on our lives of cruciformity.
