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Saturday, April 7, 2012

Neither Fight Nor Flight

Below is the text of the message given on Good Friday in the Wheatland Parish.  The scripture is Mark 15:1-39.

            At the start of that reading from Mark, Jesus was on trial.  The judge was the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate.  Jesus was accused of all sorts of things.  Pilate turned to Jesus to hear his side of the story.  But Jesus said nothing.
           
Pilate could not understand that.  Pilate asked Jesus again what his response was to all the things he was accused of.  Again, Jesus said nothing.  We’re told that Pilate was amazed at this.
           
What Jesus did in front of Pilate is one of the hardest things for us to do sometimes.  To be in trouble, to have accusations made against us, and to say nothing and do nothing.  To accept what’s happening passively, with no response.  Very few of us can do that.     

It had to be even harder for Jesus.  I say that because Jesus had the power to get himself out of trouble.  After all, this is the divine Son we’re talking about.  This is the person who could drive out demons and raise people from the dead.  This is the person who could walk on the water.  You think he could not have gotten away from Pilate, if he’d chosen to do so?  Of course, he could’ve.  It probably would not have even been all that hard for him.
           
Yet Jesus did not do that.  Jesus stood there silently.  He stood there silently as his guilt was decided.  He stood there silently as his punishment was established.  He stood there silently as he was beaten and mocked.  He walked silently to the place for crucifixion.  He was silent as he was nailed to the cross.  He could’ve gotten away at any time.  Yet he refused to do so.
           
No one could understand it.  Even his disciples did not understand it.  Jesus was supposed to be the Savior.  He was supposed to be the king of the Jews.  Why would he not fight back?  Why would he not defend himself?  Why would he just stand there and let all this be done to him?
           
What Jesus did on that first Good Friday is something that goes against all of our human instincts.  After all, we all have a natural instinct for self-preservation.  Maybe you’ve heard it described as the “flight or fight” instinct.  When we’re threatened, we either run away or we stand and defend ourselves.  We don’t do what Jesus did.  We don’t remain passive and let people do whatever they want to do to us.
           
Yet, what Jesus did was right in line with what Jesus told us to do.  Remember, he said that if someone hits us on one cheek, we should turn the other to them.  He told us that if someone wants our coat, we should also give them our shirt.
           
Jesus did not tell us to either run or fight.  Jesus told us to love.  He told us to love everyone, and he told us to love in all circumstances.  He told us to love even our enemies.  He told us to pray for the people who persecute us.
           
We know those things.  We claim to believe in them.  The thing is, though, that we don’t very often live them.  I’m not saying nobody does.  I’m sure some of us here do, at least some of the time.  There are very few people, though, we live them completely, and who live them all the time.
           
Jesus did.  That’s why he did not run away from Pilate.  That’s why he did not fight back when he was beaten.  That’s why he allowed all these things to happen to him.  Jesus believed what he said, and he lived what he believed.  If our words and our beliefs are to really mean anything, we have to live them all the time, even when it’s hard.  In fact, we have to live them especially when it’s hard.  If we’re going to abandon our beliefs when they’re inconvenient for us, then we never really believed them in the first place.
           
Jesus believed them.  Jesus believed them all the time.  Jesus believed them, and lived them, even when it meant he would be arrested.  He believed them, and lived them, even when it meant he would be beaten.  He believed them, and lived them, even when it meant he would be killed.
           
It takes a lot of courage to live according to your beliefs when you know that doing so will get you killed.  More than that, though, it takes faith, and it takes love.  It takes believing that if we live our lives loving God and loving others, we can trust that God will be there for us in every circumstance.  It takes believing that if we live our lives loving God and loving others, we can trust that God is there even in our death.  It takes believing that if we live our lives loving God and loving others, God will be there with us even beyond our death on this earth.
           
Jesus believed that.  Jesus lived that.  Jesus loved God the Father and loved all the humans God created.  Jesus loved us so much that he was willing to stand passively and willing accept the worst that humans could give him.  He was willing to accept the beatings, the whippings, the mockery, all of it.  He was willing to accept even his own death.
           
If we truly claim to be followers of Jesus, that’s the kind of love we need to have.  That’s not an easy thing.  I don’t know that I have that kind of love.  I suspect very few of us do.
           
Jesus understands how hard that kind of love is.  Jesus does not demand perfection from us.  Jesus does expect us to keep trying, though.  It’s easy for us to say, “Well, I’m doing good enough.”  Jesus does not want us to settle for good enough.  Jesus wants us to love as he loved and do as he did.  Jesus wants us to have a complete and total love for everyone, no matter who they are and no matter what they may have done.
           
On this Good Friday, let’s think about the love Jesus had for us.  Then, let’s make up our minds to follow Jesus’ example.

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