Sisters and brothers in Christ, we are nearing the end of our Lenten journey.
For 4 weeks we have been traveling together, as a congregation, and together with the whole body of Christ around the world, all who observe Lent. I hope it’s been a rich journey for you, and for all who observe Lent.
Not everyone does. As I said on Ash Wednesday, the first day of our 40-day journey, practicing Lent is a very voluntary activity. The world beyond the church doesn’t do Lent. It’s not a church season that’s really in your face, like say, Christmas. Many even in the church don’t do Lent. (I was talking to some friends who are part of a non-denominational mega church, and they hadn’t ever heard of Lent.
And so we who do journey and reflect and observe Lent and its disciplines have had some freedom, to dig into Lent with as much or as little intensity as we please. I don’t think guilt or shame as a way of being church at Lent is very effective ultimately, nor is that at the center of the Lenten practices. Rather Lent is a time when we are invited back to God, a chance to see ourselves as molded in God’s image, yes, broken and sinful if/when we’re brutally honest (as we’re invited to be at Lent), but finally and ultimately redeemed in the loving work of Christ — Christ’s ministry, Christ’s cross and Christ’s burial, and finally Christ’s resurrection. Lent is “a finding ourselves totally dependent on God”. It takes some work to get there. It’s not world’s right way — that’s to be totally dependent on ourselves.
Where do you fit into all that? What does Christ’s suffering and death have to do with you?
Today and through these coming-up Highest Holy Days of our church calendar, I hope you hear that Christ’s suffering and death has everything to do with you, to do with us.
That is to say, we are joined intimately, like a branch grafted to a tree (Gospel of John, Letters of Paul), we are joined that intimately to Christ’s suffering and death, through the waters of our baptism, through the enduring love of God which overflows like Mary of Bethany’s fragrant, expensive oil...that’s how God’s love overflows for us (and for this whole world) this day, this St. Patrick’s Day. (That was the message Patrick took to Ireland! Not “drink Guinness” :) But, “God’s love overflows for you like costly perfume!”)
We are baptized — we are grafted, a new branch buried into an old tree — into Christ’s death, and therefore we are linked intimately to Christ’s suffering.
Now, what’s going on with this anointing Jesus’ feet with oil?
The oil that Mary used, was the kind of oil with which you anointed the dead. (It was a very strange gesture; but it’s because Mary got it — she got who Jesus was, and what he was about.) The smell that filled the room, while certainly fragrant, was the smell that reminded everyone of death — like the smell of funeral home flowers: it smells nice, but you sure know what’s happened when you smell those flowers.
Mary anointed Jesus’ feet as a way of anticipating his burial, which was to happen soon. She got it: Jesus was going to die.
And today, in just a few minutes, at the end of our Lenten journey (next week will start Holy Week), we will anoint one another...in part, as an anticipation of our burial. [pause]
But there’s more: We are buried with Christ, we are grafted to Christ, and therefore we become new with Christ. There is healing with Christ, because of Christ, on account of Christ...regardless, as Paul reminds us, of anything we’ve done.
It’s all about Christ and Christ’s work and Christ’s faith!
We are anointed today, with a prayer of healing, and the laying on of hands, yes, as a sign of God’s love and healing and presence in our troubled lives...and as a sign of our upcoming burial...and finally as a sign of our being joined to Christ, who shoulders our pain and our brokenness and our sin and our sickness, and brings us at last to healing and peace and joy. It’s all about Christ’s work; it has nothing to do with our work...or even our faith.
I want to show you something: Philippians 3:8-9.
“everything as loss” = all the things I’ve done, accomplished doesn’t mean “sh*t”
“and be found in him” = very different from “finding Jesus”. Like last week with the two lost sons, God finds us, not the other way around.
“faith in Christ” vs. “faith of Christ” (genitive, possessive case)
It’s all about Christ acting upon us, friends! Christ joins us to himself through his death. It’s like Christ takes us under the water with him, and when we come back up, everything is made new. Behold, the former things have passed away, our former selves die, our sin and our brokenness have passed away, and everything, everything has been made new.
So, come! Receive the oil of healing this morning. Bring your concerns and your ailments, bring your brokenness and your doubt, bring your illness and your anger, and let Christ draw you to himself, let Christ drown you with love and new life. Smell the oil! Feel the sign of the cross wipe across your forehead. Let the oil run down...and remember that you are buried with Christ, buried in love, buried in peace, buried to emerge with new life: Christ life. AMEN.
No comments:
Post a Comment