In the name of God ☩
Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Amen.
Building
on last night’s sermon about the way of the cross being none other than the way
of life and peace, I want to reflect with you on what it means to “glory” in
the cross, as tonight’s Collect suggests that we are to do. There’s a book
about the Cross that begins by saying, “The Cross is not and cannot be loved.”
The way of the Cross is not often our first instinct, normally we give
ourselves over to fight or flight. The Cross though is a very different
response, it is one of self-giving love that acts in steadfast obedience to the
powers of Sin, Death, doubt, and fear. And so in Holy Week, we have to train
ourselves to look at the Cross and see that it really is our saving grace
instead of being foolishness or a stumbling block.
That
phrase, “glory in the cross,” is one that strikes me because we don’t often use
“glory” as a verb. Usually, we talk about glory as something that we give, as
in worship, or something that describes something truly awesome. But this
Collect uses “glory” as something that we do. In researching the history of
this word, I found that glory comes into English through French and can mean
things like “to boast, brag, or take pride in.”
In
some ways, Christians are great at doing this. We have cross jewelry, and art,
and decorations. Clergy sometimes put a cross after their signatures, so it
seems that there’s no shortage or promoting the Cross, but are we glorying in
the Cross? Are these crosses that we surround ourselves with about bragging
about ourselves, our faith, our accomplishments, or are they about bragging
about what God has done on our behalf?
A
lot of people take pride in certain identities – for example, being a fan of a
particular sports team, being a proponent of a certain clothing or technology
brand, being a member of a club or group, being a citizen of a country. These
are not necessarily bad things, though they can become idols. This Collect,
which is derived from a passage in Galatians, though would have us take pride
in the Cross. Now, what we are to take pride in isn’t a symbol. That would be
like a sports fan just taking pride in a team’s logo but never actually
watching any of the games or understanding how the game is played. Instead, we are
to take pride in what the Cross stands for, which is where we run into
difficulty. As the Collect puts it, the Cross is “an instrument of shameful death;”
hardly something we would normally take pride in. The Collect then goes one
step further, it notes that by glorying the Cross, that we will “gladly suffer
shame and loss,” which is something that we’ve been trained to avoid.
So
if the Cross is, as St. Paul puts it in tonight’s passage from 1 Corinthians, a
stumbling block and foolishness, why would we want to have the Cross as
something we glory in? Turning to Jesus’ words in John, we start to get a sense
of what the Cross is truly all about. Jesus says, “Very truly, I tell you,
unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single
grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it,
and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.”
The
Cross is not at all about the glorification of violence or suffering, quite the
opposite. The Cross shows us that suffering and violence are not the end of the
story when it comes to the Cross. Just as that grain of wheat’s story does not
end when it falls to the earth, rather it comes to bear much fruit, death is
not the end of our story. And this is why we might actually want to suffer
shame and loss; there is something that lies on the other side of that shame
and loss because Jesus is on the other side of that shame and loss. We suffer
shame meaning that the world might not think much of us if we invest our time
in serving the poor and needy. We might suffer loss of income, or maybe even
physical safety, if our priority is on loving others. Look at the examples that
we’ve seen in the news over the past several weeks – teachers, doctors, nurses,
grocery workers, delivery drivers – all suffering loss for the sake of those
who rely on their essential services. They take this suffering on because they
have chosen to love at all costs.
But
Jesus tells us that those who lose their life will find it again in him. Shame
and loss are only bad if we think they are the end of the story. Because of the
Cross of Christ, we know that God’s love does not stop at death. The Cross
shows us that death is a horizon, but a horizon is only the limit of our sight.
As Jesus tells us where he is, there his servants will also be, we can trust
that we will be with him on both this side and the other of death. Jesus is in
the eternal peace of God, and so that is where we will also be. This Good News
is what liberates us to glory in the Cross, in the way of self-giving love, in
the way of fruit-producing grace. We glory in the Cross because it’s the best news
in the world – the news that God loves us in and through and beyond the shame
and loss of Cross and into eternal life.
O God, by the passion of thy blessed Son
didst make an instrument of shameful death to be unto us the means of
life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly
suffer shame and loss for the sake of thy Son our Savior Jesus Christ;
who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.
