In the name of the loving, liberating, and life-giving Trinity. Amen.
What difference does it make that you are a follower of Jesus? I’m sure you all know people who aren’t people of faith and yet they live lives similar to yours – they are nice people, they give to charity, and they’d be there to help you in a time of need. Certainly, we’re here this morning and they’re not, so that’s a difference. But the way they might view our religious practices is that it’s a nice hobby for us. It gives us a sense of purpose and meaning, and they might find that same sort of thing when they walk in nature, or practice yoga, or listen to music. When it comes down to it, what is the difference between a devout Christian and a compassionate atheist?
The difference is, literally, right in front of us. The Cross of Christ is at the very heart of our faith and it is what makes all the difference. The Cross teaches us so many things, it would be impossible for me to cover all of what this symbol of our faith means in a single sermon. But there are two aspects of the Cross of Christ that, in particular, point towards the difference between a good atheist and a person of faith.
The first difference that the Cross makes is to give us a different perspective on the world. It’s not a perspective that is obvious or one that we would come up with on our own. The Cross proclaims there is great hope in the fact that all things are passing away. Because of advances in technology, communication, and transportation, the world is changing at a dizzying pace. The institutions which we took for granted for generations are now crumbling. Things and people that you used to be able to count on are no longer reliable. And, of course, death is a reality that we all grapple with, whether it be the death of a loved one or our own impending deaths.
For the atheist, they might simply call this reality the “natural state of things.” But for the Christian, we reject the notion that there is anything natural about the way our society is functioning. Things like corruption, and war, and poverty might be expected, but they should never be accepted as normal. The Cross is the ultimate symbol of this perversion of the human will. When God incarnate came to us, our response was to shout “Crucify him!” Those outside of the Christian tradition do not have the concept of Sin. And so when the atheist considers a murder, child-trafficking, or robbery, the only consolation they have is “this is just the way humanity is.” But for the Christian, there is great hope in being able to say “Sin does real damage, but there will be a day when these wrongs are made right, when justice will roll down like a river and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
As Christians, when we see decay, when encounter pain, when we run into evil, the Cross gives us great hope in knowing that death is not final, that despair is not permanent, that the light of redemption will vanquish all darkness. As people of faith, you might say that we are to have our eyes crossed as we go through the world, that is, we are to see things differently. Because of the Cross, we see things through the lens of hope and with an expectation for justice.
Certainly, the Cross of Christ made all the difference in the life of this community’s patron saint – Luke, whom we remember today. St. Luke was a physician and a traveling companion of St. Paul, though he was not one of the twelve apostles. He is the author both the Gospel according to Luke and the Book of Acts, meaning that it is actually St. Luke, not St. Paul, who wrote more of the New Testament than any other writer. And when you read through Luke and Acts, the difference that Cross makes becomes clear. Throughout Luke’s writing, the Gospel is portrayed as saving grace for those who are lost as they are found by the all-surpassing, unexpected, and boundary-crossing love of God.
This is the dynamic that we see at play in today’s Gospel text from Mark. In the verses immediately before this section, Jesus has, for the third time, told his disciples that he would be handed over to the authorities, be crucified, and rise on the third day. In response, James and John ask to sit on Jesus’ right hand in glory. Now, whether they didn’t hear the part about the Cross or if they skipped ahead to Resurrection, we can’t be sure. But when Jesus says back to them “You do not know what you are asking,” we are sure that they didn’t know what they were getting into.
And that might be the truest thing that we can say about the difference that Christ makes in our lives. The love of God will absolutely make a difference in our lives, but we have no idea what exactly this difference will look like. James and John had no idea what they were asking. They had no idea that this glory that they were seeking would lead them to be killed. They had their eye on the glory, but forgot that the Cross is the road to get there.
It’s a mistake that we still make today. We want Christianity without the Cross, we want glory without shame, victory without pain, spirituality without commitment, faith without obedience, benefits without costs. We want church growth without having difficult conversations, or without making changes, or without being servants to those in need. We want the glory of success and winning without the shame and suffering of the Cross.
But Jesus says, “No, glory is not something that you find, it is something that finds you when you aren’t looking for it.” Jesus tells his disciples that power and glory work differently because of the Cross. The greatest must be the least, the servant of all. And this isn’t some sort of game – you don’t just serve others and pretend to be humble with the expectation that you will be noticed and then promoted to the front of the class. No, the Cross shows us that glory isn’t found at the palace, or in the boardroom, or on the private yacht. Rather, glory is found at the outskirts of town, in a person who spoke too much too truth, showed too much love, and proclaimed too much mercy. Glory is found in a homeless man who was arrested in the dark of night, was hastily tried by a mob, was beaten to a pulp, stripped of all his clothing, and had nails driven through his hands and feet as he was made to die alone from asphyxiation on a cross.
And it’s not that we pursue suffering or rejection in order to earn glory, it’s that glory itself is found in the low places. This is not something that the atheist is ever going to believe to be true. As Jesus says “The rulers of the world lord it over each other.” Our world is a race to the top and we spend so much time climbing over each other to be deemed smartest, or most popular, or richest, or most correct. But how’s that working out? Our culture is full of division and anxiety. And for all of our striving, things don’t even always turn out the way that we had wanted.
This is the second point about the Cross that makes us different, the Cross reminds us that there is a different way. It is a way that goes with the grain of the universe which was created by the love of God. The truth is that when we follow Jesus and pattern our lives on his Cross, we don’t know where we will be led. You all know that we’ve been having conversations at St. Luke’s about how we can become the Beloved Community as we address racial reconciliation. We have no idea where these conversations will lead us, how they will be received, or what will happen as a result of talking about this topic. But we trust that God will be with us in that place of vulnerable honesty.
The same is true in your personal lives. When you make a pledge to the church, you have no idea what the upcoming year will hold when it comes to unexpected expenses. Do we want to be paralyzed by fear, do we want to struggle against the grain of the universe? Or do we look to the Cross to remind us that God is always with us, especially in those places of uncertainty and fear?
Jesus tells James and John “The cup that I drink you will drink; and the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized.” Indeed, we have all been baptized in the name of Jesus. I’ve told you all before that if I had unlimited resources, I’d get rid of the bird bath that we call a Baptismal font and get the sort that was used in the early Church – a cross-shaped font that is filled with feet, not inches, of water, making it clear that we are not sprinkled with God’s saving grace, but rather are immersed in it. And these deep sort of fonts were also built to look like a coffin, making it clear that as we are Baptized, we die to ourselves and reborn into new life in Christ. That being said, I believe in the power of a symbol to convey something greater than itself – Baptism is about the grace of God, not the style of our font. But know that you have been baptized into the baptism of Jesus, a baptism of Death and Resurrection.
And as a reminder and reflection of this Baptismal grace, each week we drink of the cup that Jesus gives us. We drink of our Savior’s Blood, which really should remind us that we are different. Early Christians were accused of being cannibals for insisting that they were eating and drinking the Body and Blood of Jesus. Eucharist is a radical act, not only because we claim that we are consuming Jesus’ body, but also because of the radical nature of the Sacrament. It doesn’t matter who you are, how much worldly power you might have, what mistakes you have made, or how long you’ve been a member of the Church – each person comes and kneels before the Cross of Christ to receives tokens of their salvation. The lines of division, of political affiliation, of race, of gender, of sexual identity, of class, of status are all eroded as we come forward to share in the cup which Jesus gives us.
This is a part of the difference that the Cross makes. Jesus says that “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” We are all equally in need of a savior and of being ransomed from our fears, our doubts, our sins, our selfish interests. And in this sacred meal, we are also taught something about the end of all things, as the Eucharist is also a foretaste of the victory banquet of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, whose blood was shed for us. It reminds us of that ultimate justice, mercy, reconciliation, and peace which I mentioned earlier.
As you go through life, many things will come at you – joys and sorrows, occasions for celebration and occasions for lament, successes and failures, strong convictions of faith and strong moments of doubt. What remains constant though is that we will gather each week before the Cross of Christ which makes all the difference in our lives. The Cross orients us towards hope even as things are passing away. The Cross reminds us that when we are in pain, when we are afraid, when we are rejected, when we are uncertain about how things will work out, when we are most in need of mercy and love, that it is exactly in those places of lowliness and need that the glory of God’s love will be with us. The Cross reminds us that God’s way is not like the ways of the world.
Today, we give God hearty thanks for this parish; for our patron, St. Luke, and his witness to the difference that Christ makes in our world; and for allowing us to receive the grace of God in the baptism of Jesus and to drink from his cup of salvation. What difference does being a follower of Jesus make? Because of the Cross, it makes all the difference.
