R.I.P.

Abby and Emma and some of the neighborhood kids were all playing early this evening. Abby came running toward our house and said, "I need some tape." And I, of course asked why. She said, "For the roly poly grave. She died." Apparently, they found a dead roly poly and they decided to give it a proper burial. One of the other kids made the tombstone. In case you can't read it in the photo. It says, "Mrs. Roly Poly died here." with an arrow pointing to down to the very spot where they laid her to rest.
I'm pleased my daughters and their peers are realizing their importance as stewards of God's creation.

What's in a Name?

When my girls were younger, knowing a name was important to them. I remember trips to the zoo when the girls would see an animal they didn’t know and the first thing out of their mouths was, “What’s it called?” And I or Sheri would tell them – or we’d have to find out from the posted sign the name of this or that strange creature. When Abby or Emma would get a new doll or stuffed animal, the first thing they’d do is give it a name. Or even when reading a book with them, they would see the illustration of an animal or person in a book and before I could begin to read, they already wanted to know its name. Learning a name or giving a name gives the creature or the stuffed animal or the concept or person on the page of a book life - life in their minds.
When the Almighty God created all things, he spoke all creation into life by saying the name he had given it – “Light, sky, land, sea, creatures.” God spoke its name, and it had existence – it had life. Our God is a life-giving God through his Word. And he has done this to you. In baptism, you were given life by God and new-life by water and his Word. In Baptism, God gave you new life, by giving his name to you – “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” His spoken name connected to your spoken name in baptism gave you new life and new identity as God’s child, freed from slavery to sin and alive through the work of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early that first Easter morning. What was she thinking as she walked to the tomb? Certainly sorrow over Jesus’ death. St. John’s account of the Crucifixion says that she was there to see his death. Jesus was in fact dead – she was a witness. And if she truly believed that Jesus was not only the man from Nazareth, but also her Lord, the very Son of God, Yahweh, God of Israel – then her God was dead as well. She was without her God. And if her God was dead, then everything Jesus said and did really didn’t matter. His life ended in defeat. The horror of being without your God! She must have been absolutely crushed, in despair, without any hope. But as Mary approaches the tomb, she finds that it’s open! The stone is rolled away! So what does she do? She starts assuming – something we’re all very good at doing. Mary doesn’t even look in. Somebody has taken the body of Jesus! She panics and runs to tell the others. Not only is Jesus dead, but someone has desecrated his tomb. She returns with John and Peter, they have the good sense to at least look in. They find no body. And they go away.
So what’s there left to do? Just cry and weep and mourn. Jesus is dead, God is dead. And if God is dead, then I am too. Have you ever felt like that? Felt like God has abandoned you – causing you to question the existence of God and of Jesus. In the times when we are suffering and mourning, it’s easy to think that way. It’s easy to assume that God is dead and all these words of Scripture and all the stories are dead. And if God is dead, then we are dead. Mary doesn’t know it, yet but there’s Jesus – alive. She talks to him, but doesn’t recognize him – thinking him to be the gardener. And then, Jesus says her name, “Mary.” Jesus says her name, and everything changes. Jesus says her name, and gives her life again. Mary is alive again because her God - Jesus - is alive and with her here and now. She is no longer without her God. With a name - “Mary” - life is given and relationship is restored.
So when you feel like your God has abandoned you or you are questioning the existence of God and of Jesus during the dark times in your life or when the devil has a strangle-hold on you. Remember, your God has said your name and you have life. In baptism, he has attached himself to you. In baptism, you have died with Christ and have risen with Christ. You have a name, you have your God, he is alive again, and his name is Jesus Christ. And one day, he will call your name again. When he comes again, he will call your name and you will rise and join him in resurrection. And he will continue to be your God, not by faith, but by sight. Like Mary, Jesus will say your name and everything will change. You will have life – eternal life - because he knows your name and has called your name. And that eternal life in Christ starts today, and every day. Because Christ is risen, he is risen indeed. Amen.

"My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?"

“And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”

Total separation from God. And we have no idea or understanding for what that’s like. The Scriptures tell us of the mystery of our almighty God – how he is both outside of our universe and yet also present among us. He keeps the universe in order – the planets in their orbits – evening and morning – summer and winter. He makes the grass to grow and fruit and grain for us to eat. He causes it to rain on both the righteous and the wicked. While our sin separates us from him, God remains near – keeping humankind from complete chaos, anarchy, and destruction and seeking out and finding the lost by his word. Realize it or not, none of us, saint or sinner, none of us have truly experienced full separation from God.

The Gospels proclaim the story of the Passion - the crucifixion of the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. The judgment of God gathered as darkness covered the whole land. Jesus is in unimaginable, unbearable agony and pain being nailed hands and feet to a cross. But more unimaginable and unbearable is how God the Father separated himself from his only Son. Jesus experiences hell – total separation from God. Sometimes we may ask, "If Jesus is God, how can God be separated from God?" But how this happens in the mystery of the Trinity is beyond our human understanding and is not explained in the Scriptures. So it remains just that – a mystery. The dread and horror Jesus experiences comes out of him in a cry of terror. It’s almost more than he can bear. He doesn’t call Him Father, but God as he cries out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus bears and experiences the sins of all humankind in all time and place. Forsaken, He becomes the greatest robber, murder, adulterer, and blasphemer of all time as he experiences God’s righteous wrath and anger. He has the power to come down from the cross, to end it all right here, right now – come down from the cross and vindicate himself and condemn his enemies. But he doesn’t. He stays. He drinks the overflowing cup of judgment empty. His love for you and obedience to the Father keeps him on the cross. “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” The Son of God dies in sadness.

We look at the cross in awe and witness our salvation. We confess, “Why God? Why haven’t you forsaken me? Why haven’t you forsaken me instead of this sinless man? And that’s the Gospel. That’s the gracious love of God for you - that he has not forsaken you. Out of love for you, he forsakes his only Son. Out of love for you, the Son of God dies to pay the enormous price of your sin and mine. His life to give us life – real life – eternal life in him.

Who Killed Jesus?

I have been seeing commericals on either Discovery Channel or History Channel (I can't remember which) for a program coming up called "Who Killed Jesus?" Based upon the commerical, it sounds like the program will explore all the possible historical figures from the crucifixion narrative and decide who is the one or ones who are responsible for killing Jesus.

But that's just like society and the media today. We always want to know who is responsible. "Who's responsible?" "Who is guilty of this?" We have to find someone to blame for all the bad things that happen in our world. I suppose so that justice might be had.

So in this case, who killed Jesus? Well in the narrative, the Jewish religious establishment was out to get Jesus for some time. They were the ones that went to find him in the garden and arrest him. They must be to blame. Pilate, the Roman Governor believed Jesus to be innocent. But he gave into the crowds and permitted Jesus to be crucified. He must be to blame. The Roman soldiers mocked him, whipped him, and carried out the crucifixion order. So they must be to blame. But ultimately, who is to blame? Who killed Jesus?

God killed Jesus. He permitted all these events to happen and to come to fruition at the right time. God permitted the death of the Son of God at the hand of the very sinners he was sent to save. Our sin killed Jesus. We are the reason he died. To save each one of us from eternal death. He was separated from God so that we might be joined back to God. We always look to blame someone else for what we have done. But look at what the Son of God has done for you!

"Subdue and Have Dominion"

"And God blessed them. And God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'" - Genesis 1:28 ESV

"Subdue it and have dominion." I have thought about this phrase since my post "Just Another Animal?" What does subdue mean here? Am I subduing creation when I attempt to dominate my backyard into submission with a lawn mower?

The Hebrew word for subdue is "kabash" meaning "bring into subjection, make subservient." Subdue as "make subservient" may be helpful for us in this context. God created this world as the living place for humans. And our world continues to serve us to this day; giving us the air we need to breathe, the food we need to eat, and providing the materials we need to create clothing and shelter. In that sense, creation is our servant - "subservient" to us. "Subdue" is used elsewhere in the Old and New Testaments 31 times. And every other time outside of Genesis chapter 1, it is used in a military or political context. So, those other uses are not much help. The use of "subdue" with regard to God's command of humans viz. the earth is never again addressed in Scripture beyond Genesis 1.

But I think it's important to remember that all the other times this word is used in Scripture are after man had sinned. And as the sinful children of Adam, both then and now, the full understanding of God's command to "subdue and have dominion" is elusive and difficult for us to wrap our minds around. Martin Luther has some insight into the problem in his Lectures on Genesis as he addressed Genesis 1:28:

"But Adam would not have used the creatures as we do today, except for food, which he would have derived from other, far more excellent fruits. For he under whose power everything had been placed did not lack clothing or money. Nor would there have been any greed among his descendants; but, apart from food, they would have made use of the creatures only for the admiration of God and for a holy joy which is unkown to us in this corrupt state of nature. By contrast, today and always the whole creation is hardly sufficient to feed and support the human race. Therefore what this dominion consisted of we cannot even imagine."

Adam and Eve were created in the image of God and had a perfect relationship with Him. Yet that perfect harmony with God and with the earth fell apart with the fall into sin. I tend to fall in line behind Luther here in saying we can't have a crystal clear understanding of how our first parents went about having dominion over the earth. Because of who we are as sinners, we have never enjoyed that perfect relationship. The earth is cursed and we eat our food by the sweat of our brow (Genesis 3:17-19). Yet now where in Scripture does it say that God's command to subdue the earth was ever revoked. And that command is still ours today.

So where do we go from here? How are we to understand and live out our role as humans subduing creation? And how do we understand that role in the light of Jesus Christ? How about your thoughts?

Ash Wednesday: Remembering

This morning, we (myself and my daughters) were sitting in the car at the corner of our street waiting for the school bus. (Personal comment: It's just been too cold here in S. Texas this winter!) After a couple of minutes, I told Abby, "Tonight we will do the Imposition of Ashes." And Abby replied, "You mean when we put that black stuff on our heads?...Yeah!!!" For some reason, Abby likes that. I think it's because the Imposition of Ashes on Ash Wednesday is something strange and unique and done only once a year, thus she remembers it. Then I asked her, "Do you know why we do that?" (blank stare) "To remind us we will die."

That is what Ash Wednesday is all about. It is the day beginning the season of Lent in which we remember who we are: sinners doomed to death - "Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return." We are sinners without our own righteous leg to stand on. There is nothing left but death for us. But Ash Wednesday is also a day to remember where to focus our hope: the cross of Christ. The ashes are drawn on foreheads in the shape of a cross for a reason - to remind us who removed the sting of death for us by becoming death for us: Christ.

So I encourage you today to remember - remember who you are and in whom is your only hope.