O, Sacred Head…
Posted by pastorbill09 on April 6, 2009
Holy Monday just seems like an oxymoron to me. I’ve yet to awake on a Monday that seemed very holy. But this is Holy Week. It’s those few days between Palm Sunday and Easter when we might find ourselves wondering where things went so wrong. Jesus enters Jerusalem to the adulation of the crowds and before we know it he’s being nailed on a cross.
I suppose that’s descriptive of much of our lives. We move from one interest to another so quickly that it isn’t hard to imagine our being a part of what’s done to Jesus. Every now and then, this time of year, the question is raised, “Did Jesus have to die?” I think I even remember seeing that question on the cover of Time magazine one year. As I recall the scholars they interviewed weren’t very satisfactory in their answers. But I don’t think it takes much knowledge really to answer it. Given who we are and given who he was, there could be no other way.
A few years ago a man was killed in France, in the village of Taize. His name was Brother Roger and he was the founder of the Taize community, an ecumenical monastic community in southern France that originally participated in the hiding of Jews from Vichy French authorities during WW II. Brother Roger’s vision was of a community of Christians who would commit themselves to prayer and hospitality. Today thousands flock to Taize every year to experience that with the brothers who live there.
But a few years ago, I think in 2003 or 2004, Brother Roger was murdered by a man who seemingly had no motive at all. In reflecting on that murder one of the other leaders said it happened because there was a light about Roger that some just couldn’t tolerate. He was so accepting of everyone; his love for those he encountered was so evident, that his murderer simply couldn’t stand it.
There are those in the world who cannot tolerate the light. The have to snuff it out, no matter what the cost to themselves and to the world. I don’t know if that makes them particularly evil, but it does prove them to be overwhelmed by their sin. And I think we all do that in small ways every day. The light enters our lives and we turn away from it. Opportunities for love and compassion present themselves and we ignore them or reject them outright. We may not do anything as drastic as the man who killed Brother Roger or those who called for Jesus’ execution, but still we snuff out the light in small ways all the time.
In that sense, I suppose, Jesus had to die, or at least someone was bound to kill him. Recognizing our complicity in that even now is a step toward our redemption. Learning to be aware of our connection to those who sought Jesus’ end and to God who forgives our sin is the journey of Lent that we walk every day of our lives.
Peace,
Pastor Bill
