Thoughts from St. Andrew's Episcopal Church • Birmingham, AL

Sunday, April 7, 2019

Old Testament: Isaiah 43:16-21

Psalm 126 

Epistle: Philippians 3:4b-14

Gospel: John 12:1-8

In Philippians 3:4-14, we are told that “we have suffered the loss of all things, … not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.” How do we understand, experience, and more importantly, PRACTICE our faith? How do we follow Jesus and what does that mean?

One thought that has always “scared” me with my faith is that God is a punisher, that he is judging me on earth and in death with all of the “shoulds, the coulds, the didn’t dos”, threats of being Hellbound upon my death. The Old Testament is full of these examples: of killing masses, punishing, offering of children, etc. It takes us through various states of consciousness and history to be judgmental, accusatory, fearful, blaming, and egocentric. Reading the Bible would only validate my unworthiness and confirm that I would never be able to “gain Christ.” Richard Rohr, OFM suggests we “change the seer and not the text.”  

Christianity is saying that we need a model, an exemplar, a promise, and a guarantee (Pauline letters). For us, the living model is Jesus, the “Exemplary Cause,” which is how Jesus “causes” our salvation. Some may think this means his model just “rubs off on us,” but our salvation is not based upon moral behavior or joining the right group, but a realization of who we are right now, in this world. It could be said our salvation is not a question of IF, but more like WHEN. One could also say that as Christians, we may have become more obsessed with what we believe and sitting in church rather than how we live. In Jesus, I see an invitation to join a movement that is about demonstrating God’s goodness to the world. He sent us into the world to make us disciples (Matthew). There is a passage in Corinthians that says, “He became what we do to one another in order to free us from the lie of punishing and scapegoating each other. He became the crucified, so we would stop crucifying. He refused to transmit his pain unto others.”  

This Lenten season, we can choose to  take up the cross and follow Him (Matthew 16:24). As we are reminded of the crucified Christ, we can choose to soften our hearts toward suffering, hatred and violence, as well as reflect on the lives of the people before us, that learned to act beyond their self interest and for the good of the world. Rohr says it best: “Those who agree to carry and love what God loves, both the good and the bad, and to pay the price for its reconciliation within themselves — these are the followers of Jesus Christ.”  So, as we began, we have all suffered and lost, but who amongst us, have experienced the faith needed to not just FOLLOW Christ, but to walk with and next to Christ, as his Hands and Feet?

Betty Frey