No Other Way!

Palm Sunday and the Sunday of the Passion
April 8, 2001

By
The Rev. Ann M. Smith

Based on Luke 22:39-23:56

I cannot see how anyone can help but be moved by the drama of the liturgy of this day. Hopefully our Lenten journey has led us through a wilderness experience that has helped to enliven our faith. Now the journey suddenly becomes tumultuous. We are on an unbelievable pace, which takes us through the whole gamut of emotional response. There is the joy of the triumphant ride of Jesus into Jerusalem. Swept along with the disciples and friends of Jesus we cheer him on shouting "Hosanna! Save us!" We sit at the table with Jesus and the disciples, passing the cup of wine and breaking bread. We hear Jesus' words interpreting the bread and wine in relation to his imminent death. We find ourselves in the garden of Gethsemane. There we agonize with Jesus. He is in a state of turmoil. He spends the night in an agony of doubt praying his anguished prayer. We feel a deep sense of grief as he is betrayed by one of his closest friends. We watch with Peter and the disciples from a safe distance as he is taken away to appear before Pilate. We feel the sense of shock and unbelief as he is condemned to death. Although many declare his innocence, no one has the character to withstand the charges. We hear the crowd shouting their taunts of "Crucify!" We feel the pain and confusion of the disciples as Jesus' earthly ministry comes to an end. All hope is dispelled as he is executed along with two murderers. We follow to the tomb and see how his body is laid out for burial.

Can we hear that story and not place ourselves somewhere in it? Would we have been a part of that jeering crowd? Or would we have taken to the hills like the fearful disciples? Would we have helped bear that terrible burden with Simon of Cyrene, carrying the cross through the jostling crowds? Would we have questioned what kind of a loving God could allow such a thing to happen? No matter where we see ourselves, the journey leads in one direction only; that is to the foot of the cross.

As Christians, we cannot ignore it. God wants to reveal to us that Jesus' death on the cross is the way to glory. In fact, the irony of life is that it is only through dying that we are given the secret of truly being alive. Death followed by resurrection, life through dying, is the way things are. It is not a truth limited to the one event of Christ's death and resurrection, although that is the prototype for the Christian. It does not affect us only when we approach the end of our lives. It is a principle of all existence. When we do the necessary dying, then we come to a fuller, richer quality of living.

We have a choice it is true. But believe it or not, not everyone chooses life. That is what I see in the stories of the two who were executed along with Jesus. The one was able to see beyond his own pain to what really mattered. The other had reached a point in his life where there was no possibility of life.

Jesus is hanging on the cross between two murderers. The crowd is looking on. They watch as the soldiers fix a notice above his head. "King of the Jews" it boldly proclaims. "How ridiculous!" I can hear them say. "Some king!" Yet, in spite of his position, one of the murderers understood. He saw right through to the kingdom. And he chose life.

"Let me be with you in your kingdom," he asked.

And Jesus says to him, "This day, this very day, you will be with me in Paradise."

"It's not fair," you may say. After a life of crime, he makes a quick act of contrition and goes straight to heaven.

But think about it. For what he did was amazing. Hanging there on the cross, in agony, he reviewed his life. And what did he discover? He had wasted it. His whole life! He had not really lived. And he admitted his responsibility. How easy it would have been to have laid the blame anywhere but on himself. He did not blame his parents, or the school system, or society. His act of repentance went right to the heart of Christ.

Where did that life giving faith come from? I'm not sure. And it probably doesn't matter. What does matter is that it was deep enough to enable Christ to save him. Even as his life came to an end, he could reform his past. In dying to his past he became truly alive.

How different from the other murderer! What a disturbing character he is! Even with death staring him in the face he shows no remorse. He is ready to blame anyone for what he regards as a twist of fate. What is going on in the depths of his soul? Not even Christ can reach him. He is hardened beyond repentance. Broken beyond repair. Lost beyond finding. He has lost all sense of his humanity. His is a truly tragic story. For he chooses death.

We may even wonder why Jesus could reach the one criminal but not the other. Are there people who simply cannot be reached? Solzenitsyn says this is so: "Evil-doing has a threshold. A human being hesitates and bobs back and forth between good and evil all his life. He slips, falls back, clambers up, repents, things begin to darken again. But just so long as the threshold of evil-doing is not crossed, the possibility of returning remains, and he himself is still within reach of our hope. But when, through the density of evil actions, the result either of their own extreme degree or of the absoluteness of his power, he suddenly crosses that threshold, he has left humanity behind, and without, perhaps, the possibility of return."

There can be two very different responses to the same occurrence. Two travellers are going through a deep forest when night descends on them. The pathway becomes invisible. The darkness is terrifying. Then a violent thunderstorm breaks out. The first man looks on it as a calamity. With every flash of lightning he curses God. Finally he strays from the path and is lost. The second person looks on it as a blessing in disguise. Each flash of lightning illuminates a bit of the path. Step by step he makes his way out of the forest.

We can view the cross as the greatest of failures. Or we can recognize and be convinced of God's great love and compassion for humanity. In that death, God suffered and died. That is the measure of God's love. Can we understand the love behind the cross? Can we take it and transform it into a thing of loveliness and glory that inspires us and others to take up that cross and follow those steps? Can we like the murderer see our own responsibility for the human condition and work to further God's reign? Can we understand the measure of God's love and know the meaning of that love in our lives? For in dying Jesus showed us God's glory and passionate love. There was no other way. There is no other way but the way of the cross.