Our Spiritual Diet: “Top Chef Challenge"

Jesus said to the crowd, “You are looking for me, not because you saw signs,

but because you ate your fill of the loaves.”  --John 6: 26

Have you noticed the number of food-related shows on television these days?  We as a society seem to be fixated on food.  We are fascinated by how it is cooked, how it’s eaten, how it’s made. We even are entertained by seeing how much food someone can eat, how fast he can eat it, and how hot he can stand for it to be!  We seem to be obsessed with food!

We are so fixated on these things we put into our body, but what about what we put into our minds?  What about what we put into our hearts? 

During the month of August, I’m preaching a sermon series on our spiritual diets.  I’ve paired the gospel lectionary texts with some popular cooking shows to see what we might include in our spiritual diets that might satisfy our souls.

First, let’s consider adding the ingredient of gratitude to our lives, as we look at the “Top Chef Challenge” the crowds presented to Jesus.

In the reality television show, Top Chef, contestants are judged by a panel of professional chefs who set up spectacular challenges for them.  And if they are able to accomplish the task, the judges set another one that is even more difficult than the first! One challenge was to create a two-egg breakfast dish in ten minutes—using only one hand.  On a Christmas episode, each contestant had to choose a wrapped gift from under the tree, and use whatever ingredients were inside to whip up a dish.  Another time the chefs had to prepare a four-course meal consisting of scallops, lobster, duck and Kobe beef.  They were given 30 minutes to shop with a limited budget, and only two hours to prepare the entire four-course dinner. 

No accomplishment is ever enough, no achievement exciting enough, stupendous enough, fantastic enough.  The judges always want more.

When the crowd followed Jesus to the other side of the sea, they were challenging him as if he were a contestant in Top Chef Challenge.  Jesus had just performed an incredible miracle.  In a crowd of five thousand men alone, plus women and children, Jesus took five loaves of bread and two fish and multiplied them into enough food to feed everyone—with some leftover!  But instead of being grateful for this miracle, instead of recognizing this as a sign that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, the one who would bring them salvation, they ran after Jesus clamoring for more. 

Oh, you gave us bread and fish?  We liked that!  You get a good score and go on to the final challenge!  Let’s see what you can do next! 

Instead of being grateful for what Jesus had given them, they had a “what have you done for me lately” attitude.

It’s no wonder Jesus went off to be by himself to pray.  When they realized he wasn’t there, they followed him, hounding him like obnoxious paparazzi going after the latest celebrity.  Jesus knew that they had followed him “not because you saw the signs,” he said, “but because you ate your fill of the loaves” (v. 26). 

How often is this our attitude?  We challenge God with more and more requests, instead of recognizing what God has done for us and being grateful.

Think about your prayers. Are you in the habit of praying those “I’m-late-again-please-let-me-find-a-parking-place” prayers, seeing God as a magic genie who will give you what you wish for?  How much of your prayer time is spent thanking God, and how much is spent asking for things?

Spiritual maturity includes recognizing the love and sacrifice of God and expressing our gratitude.  Just as it pleases a parent to receive thanks from a child, so it pleases God when we thank him.  But gratitude is not only something we do for God; it is something we do for ourselves.  Adding the ingredient of gratitude to our spiritual diets helps us to be happier and healthier people.

You’ve heard the saying, “Have an attitude of gratitude.”  Gratitude really is a choice we make about what kind of perspective we are going to have about the world. When we have an attitude of gratitude, we may be amazed at the blessings we have received that we might otherwise have overlooked.  This helps us appreciate the simple things in life that mean so much--the stranger who stopped in the grocery store parking lot to help you pick up a dropped grocery bag, the compliment from a co-worker, the joy of reading to a child, the opportunity to help someone in need.  And studies have shown that people who practice gratitude actually have healthier and happier lives! 

One way to add the ingredient of gratitude to our lives is to keep a gratitude journal.  There are a number of packaged gratitude journals on the market that people can buy to record their blessings, but all you really is need is a blank book or notebook.  And while it is a good idea simply to list things for which you are thankful, I would encourage you to keep a spiritual gratitude journal.  Before you go to bed at night, think back over the day.  Write about where you saw God at work in your life or in people or events around you.  Write down at least five blessings you have received during the day, and give thanks to God for those blessings.  You may even want to write a prayer of gratitude to God.  

You might also meditate on a verse of scripture, like Psalm 136: 1:  “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!  His steadfast love endures forever.”  Or use the text of a favorite hymn to help you express your gratitude, such as, “For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies, for the love which from our birth over and around us lies.  For the joy of human love, brother, sister, parent, child; friends on earth and friends above, for all gentle thoughts and mild, Lord of all, to thee we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise.”  What beautiful words to help us count our blessings and express our thanks to God.

When we are grateful, we feel a connection with God and with other people that is strong and deep and true.  Practicing gratitude, adding the ingredient of gratitude to our lives, nourishes us so that we may be whole and healthy and happy people. 

Jesus said, “Do not work for food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life . . . I am the bread of life.  Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”  Let’s give thanks for this gift!

Being Part of the Body of Christ

I have been wondering just why I got the bright idea to start a blog in the midst of treatment for cancer.  My goal of posting at least once a week has been side-tracked more than once.  The side effects of chemo do not always allow me to do the things I would like to do.  Now that I’m finished with the first cycle of chemo, the “hard” cycle, I’m hopeful that life will get a little more back to normal.  They tell me that the second cycle, with a different kind of chemo, will not be as difficult.

One thing that I have learned as I have been going through treatment is the power of the community of faith.   A dear former church member sent me a thoughtful note, saying that she had waited to write to me until some time after the diagnosis, because she thought at the beginning, I would be overwhelmed with cards, and I would need some encouragement down the road when things tapered off.  I would have thought the same thing, but actually, I’ve continued to receive an amazing number of cards and notes of encouragement.  I decided to count the cards I’ve saved; I was stunned to realize that I’ve received nearly 300 cards since beginning treatment in February.  As a pastor who is used to being a care giver, it is humbling to be on the receiving end of things!

The cards and notes are a tangible reminder that when we are part of the Body of Christ, we are never alone.  Our sisters and brothers in the community of faith walk with us as we share both joys and sorrows.  I have experienced the signs and symbols of the presence of the Body of Christ in wonderful ways:  hot meals, fresh fruit, prayer shawls, blankets, and bandannas, even a pillow case embroidered with words of blessing.  Truly, as Romans 12:5 says, “We, though many, are one Body in Christ,” and I am grateful.  

Trusting with Our Lives

Throughout the season of Lent, we’ve been hearing Jesus’ seven last words from the cross. The last word that Jesus spoke, before he died, was “Father, into thy hands I entrust my spirit.” 

Jesus’ work on earth had been done.  He had taught and healed and preached, and finally, gave his very life, the fulfillment of God’s plan, the perfection and completion of all Jesus’ work, the ultimate sacrifice for our sin.  And despite the fact that to all appearances it was the end, that those gathered at the foot of the cross that day thought that it was all over—many of his followers had fled, the family and friends who remained were stricken with grief, the soldiers and authorities thought it was all finished—Jesus knew that it was not the end, that resurrection was to come.  And so he entrusted his death and his life into the hands of God.  “Into YOUR hands, I entrust my spirit.”

And on that glorious Easter morning, when the disciples found the tomb empty, the angel said, “Why do you look for him here?  He has risen, just as he said.” Jesus knew what was to come, knew that he would have to suffer and die, but that in that act he would win victory over sin and death forever.  Jesus knew that resurrection was at hand, and that he would ascend to the right hand of God the Father almighty, where he welcomes even us to his kingdom.

We too are called to trust God with our lives, and yet despite the witness of Easter that God is indeed trustworthy, it is hard for us to do.

Recently attention was riveted on the Mega Millions lottery, which had accumulated the largest jackpot in history.  Drawn by the lure of huge money, more people were playing than ever before.  There were a number of news stories interviewing people about why they were playing.  So many of them said they hoped life would get better, that winning millions of dollars would be the answer to all their problems and make all their dreams come true. 

I will tell you that Joseph and I did not buy a ticket, because we agreed that we would not want the disruption of our lives that would come with winning that kind of money! So many times, those lottery winners have more problems than solutions, and they end up being miserable, lives and relationships changed in ways they never imagined.  Sometimes the things we think we want, the things we think we can trust for our happiness, are not what we need at all.  As the country song says, “Thank God for unanswered prayers.”

If we could only learn to trust God, rather than trying to keep control in our own hands. We trust our own plans more than we do God’s.  We trust our money, our possessions, our positions; we trust our diets, our exercise, our self-help books, to give us the lives we want, when God may have a better plan than we could ever imagine. 

So often in our quest to control our lives, we place our trust in the wrong things, and then we wonder why we are not happy, why our lives lack joy and fulfillment. A seminary classmate of mine had been a successful dentist.  He, his wife, and three children, enjoyed “the good life,” before God called him into ministry. He gave up his practice, they sold their beautiful home, and moved into a tiny seminary apartment, and they said they had never been happier.  The joy of trusting one’s life to God is greater than any other satisfaction.

Does that mean that everything will always work out beautifully, that we’ll never have any hardships or sorrows?  No, the reality of life is that Christians are not insulated from the effects of the world.   

But the good news of Easter is that we can trust the God of the resurrection, the one whom Jesus himself trusted, with our very lives.  I have learned this in a powerful way since I was diagnosed with cancer and have been going through chemotherapy. There’s something about getting a cancer diagnosis that puts things in a different perspective.  My diagnosis has made me realize how little control I have over my life.  I learned that very powerfully last Sunday, when the effects of chemo made it impossible for me to preach on Palm Sunday, one of the most special days of the church year.  And yet, there is something good about being stripped of the illusion that I am in control.  I trust my life and the life of my church to a good and trustworthy God, and I know that I can leave all things in His hands. 

When you were a child, did you ever play that wonderful game with your dad, where you jump off the edge of the pool into his waiting arms?  When I was a child, it didn’t matter to me one bit that the water at the deep end was well over my head.  It never entered my mind that my dad would not catch me.  I had perfect trust in him.

And so it is with our lives in Christ.  The one who raised Jesus from the dead, just as he said, is the one who has the power to keep us from falling, the one who watches over us every moment and never leaves us alone.

So let us give thanks that just as did our Lord himself, we can entrust our lives to God.  He has already won the victory over every evil power.  There is nothing that can bind us, nothing that can hold us in the tomb, for Christ has risen, just as he said, and because he lives, we shall live also.  So let us live now in gladness and joy that have no end, for he has risen, just as he said.

It Is Finished

(I apologize for being behind on the blog.  The last chemo set me back a bit.)

“When Jesus had received the wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’  Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”  --John 19: 30

I’m sure that many of you watched the 82^nd Annual Academy Awards last month.  Watching the Oscars has become as much about watching the grand entrance of the stars as it is seeing who wins the awards.  We’ve all watched on TV as the stars arrive for their walk up the red carpet. They step out of gleaming limousines, dressed in stupendously expensive evening gowns and tuxedoes.   There is glamour, jewelry, diamonds, red carpet, paparazzi, cameras, flashing lights. Everything about the night is designed to dazzle.

If it had been up to the disciples, that’s probably the way they would have had Jesus enter Jerusalem on that long ago day.  They had high hopes for Jesus, as did many other people in Israel.  Jesus had performed amazing miracles, and word about him had spread.  For hundreds of years, the people of Israel had been living under foreign rule, oppressed by strangers who had taken over the land.  The Romans were the occupiers at this point in history; the people of Israel lived under Roman law, paid taxes to Rome, saw the invaders prospering and enjoying the fruits of their labors.  The Roman army was an ever-present force, but the Israelites had no army, no military officers, no commanders, no king.  They longed for a king like the great king David, to come, to rally the people behind him, to gather a great army and drive the Romans from the land. 

And now, the one they were waiting for had arrived.  He taught with authority, he performed signs and wonders, and the masses of his followers were growing.  They wanted to get in on his parade.  Two million people were in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.  What better time could there be for the new leader to make his entrance into the Holy City and be acclaimed by the people who were ready to follow him to victory?

There were throngs of people everywhere.  There were huge crowds ahead of him, leading the way into the city.  There were more crowds behind him, following in great celebration.  And all along the way, the road was lined with people, pressing as close as they could, lifting children on their shoulders, trying to get a good look at this new leader, this Jesus, the one who would change everything for them.  They threw their cloaks into the road and waved palm branches, signs of their acclaim for this famous man.  And they shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord!” 

But not long after, these same people would be crying, “Crucify him!” and the journey that began with such promise, such triumph, such hope, would end with Jesus hanging on a cross, and with the word we hear this morning:  “It is finished.” 

Did Jesus word here mean defeat?  Was he saying, “It’s all over?”  After the going through the agony of the trial, the beatings, the mocking, the excruciating pain of the crucifixion, was Jesus ready to give up, to surrender, ready to succumb so that the pain would be over?

That is what we might think, when we read these words in our Bibles; because the English translation, “It is finished,” is rather ambiguous.  It is open to interpretation.  It might mean defeat, but it might mean something else.  How can we know for sure?

This is where it is so important to look at the original language, because while in English it is ambigious, it is not in Greek!  In Greek, the word is tetelestai, which means “accomplished,” “fulfilled,” “perfected.”

When a servant returned from completing the work of his master, he would say, “Tetelestai--It is finished.”

When a debt had been paid in full, it was stamped, “Tetelestai—It is finished.”

Our spiritual debt is great, so great that it would be burden too heavy for us to bear.  We could work and sweat and struggle and never pay it off.  But the good news is that we do not have to, because Jesus paid the debt for us.

Jesus’ word on the cross, “It is finished,” means it is finished for us.  In his sacrifice on the cross, he paid the price we could not pay.  Yet we human beings get stuck in thinking that we have to DO something to earn our salvation.  We are used to accomplishing things, aren’t we?  We want to be the ones to fix things for ourselves.

It takes a great deal of humility to let all that go and say, there is nothing that I can do.  I cannot save myself.  I simply have to rest in the promise of God, that “by grace we have been saved through faith, and this not of our own doing; it is the gift of God, not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Eph. 2: 8-9).

In many ways, this is an unusual message, because preachers usually tell you to DO something. And yet to be true to this word from Jesus on the cross, I must say that when we hear this word, we should DO nothing.  We should simply open ourselves to receive this gift.

The good news in this passage is that Jesus did it all!  As the old hymn says, “Jesus paid it all!  All to him I owe.  Sin had a left a crimson stain; he washed it white as snow.”

The Thirst of Christ

“After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill scripture), ‘I thirst.’”  --John 19: 28

During the Season of Lent, I’ve been preaching a sermon series on Jesus’ Seven Last Words from the Cross.  This is the fifth of the seven last words of Christ, and it is the shortest of them all.  In Greek it is just one word, “dipsao.” And yet despite its brevity, this word from Christ has a powerful message for us.  While the other words Christ spoke on the cross were directed outward, this is the only one that focuses on Jesus himself.

We see in this word both Jesus’ humanity and Jesus’ longing for love from his people.  The cry, “I’m thirsty,” gives voice to one of our most basic human needs.  If you have gotten up in the middle of the night to bring a glass of water to a thirsty child, or if you have ever given sips of water to someone who is sick, you know the urgency and sense of need that thirst can bring. 

Did you know that human body weight is 50 – 70% water?  Our bodies contain about 10 – 12 gallons of water.  You’ve probably heard that we all should drink 8 – 10 glasses of water a day, but did you know that the average adult loses 10 cups of water every day?  No wonder we should be drinking so much of it.  Without enough water, our bodies and minds don’t function as they should.  We don’t think as clearly when we haven’t had enough water, and we can even get headaches when we don’t drink enough.

In his thirst on the cross, Jesus experienced the basic human need for water.  He had been beaten and bloodied, forced to march down the road carrying his cross, and then endured the extreme cruelty of crucifixion.  The pain and brutality he had experienced left him extremely thirsty.  And the reality was that Jesus’ human body was dying, succumbing to the torture and nearing the physical end.

An ancient heresy said that the Son of God did not really suffer and die on the cross, that when the crucifixion occurred, Jesus’ spirit separated from his body so that he was spared the worst.  Even today, we do not like to dwell on his pain and suffering.  It would be easier not to think about Jesus going through this. But here we are called to step close to the face of this suffering man, to lean near to hear the word he is trying to speak  . . . Through dry, cracked lips, he whispers, “I thirst.”  And in that word we hear the real humanity of Jesus.  We see his bruised and bloody face.  We look into his eyes and see his need.  This is our brother, a fellow human being whose need is before us.   

In this word from the cross, we experience Jesus’ real humanity.  In this word from the cross we also hear Jesus’ longing for our love.  John says, “When Jesus knew that all was finished, he said, (in order to fulfill the Scripture), ‘I thirst.’”  Jesus knew, all along, that this would be the end of his journey.  Here, on the cross, he knew that he had fulfilled his purpose.  This ending was not an accident; it was not some failure of what was supposed to happen.  It was part of God’s plan, as Scripture had shown.  The scripture John is referring to here is Psalm 69.  The suffering servant speaking in this psalm says, “I am weary with crying; my throat is parched . . . for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink” (vv. 3, 21). 

The divine plan had come together for one reason:  love.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son . . .” God the Father and God the Son were completely one in this.  There is no greater love than Jesus’ love to lay down his life for us.

And this is the symbolic part of this fifth word from the cross.  While it gave voice to Jesus’ true humanity, his physical need, it also speaks of his thirst for us, his thirst for all of his people to know him and to return the love that he gave.

“I thirst . . . for you,” Jesus said.

One of the most respected and beloved Christians of our time was Mother Teresa.  The ministry she founded, the Missionaries of Charity, has established work on every continent.  In each house of the Missionaries of Charity is placed a crucifix, and next to it are the words, “I thirst.”  This word from Jesus became the centering focus of Mother Teresa’s life.  A biographical statement about her says, “On September 10, 1946, during the train ride from Calcutta to . . . her annual retreat, Mother Teresa received her ‘inspiration,’ her ‘call within a call.’  On that day, in a way she would never explain, Jesus’ thirst for love and for souls took hold of her heart, and the desire to satiate His thirst became the driving force of her life” (Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Women for Faith and Family, www.wf-f.org/MotherTeresa.html).  All that she did, she did out of love for Christ, in response to his love that she came to know in a powerful and mystical way, through his word, “I thirst.”

Jesus speaks the word to each of us today:  I thirst.  He thirsts for our love.  He thirsts for our hearts and souls.  So often we fill our lives with so many other things that we don’t have time for Jesus.  We turn away from his voice.  We refuse to hear his cry.  And yet he thirsts for us.

Jesus comes to us today, whispering his word in our ears.  So now, as we draw close to the cross, let us open our hearts to our Lord, understanding that his humanity was for our sake, his emptiness—for our sake, because he thirsts for us; he thirsts for us to reciprocate the great love he has for each one of us.  So let us draw near to the cross and look upon our loving Lord, and let us give him all the love of our hearts, souls, minds and strength, for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord. 

Does God Forsake Us? The Fourth of Jesus’ Seven Last Words

“Jesus cried out with a loud voice . . . ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”  --Mark 15: 34

This is a word that can shake the core of our faith.  How could Jesus say these words:  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  Could God really have forsaken Jesus?  Does this mean that Jesus’ faith in the Father was without base? What kind of God forsakes his Son?  What kind of Father sends his Son to die?

The question strikes at the heart of our own relationship to God, doesn’t it?  We may wonder, if Jesus said this, what does it mean for us? Does God forsake us?  Does God leave us alone? 

There are two things we must understand when we hear this word from Jesus.  First, we must understand Jesus’ words when he said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).  The will of God and the will of Jesus are inextricably linked.  We have not two Gods or three, but one God, in three persons; we do not have a situation here where a Father has sent a son to do that which he does not understand or take on willingly.  Jesus freely took on the form of humanity, knowing that he was born to die.

Why?  The will of the Father and the will of the Son were one for our sake.  To the end of saving of us from our sin.   Throughout the years and ages, God gave humanity the chance to turn from sin, to keep covenant.  But humans continued to sin, and they began relying on the sacrificial system, replacing ritual with relationship with God, forgetting that what God wants is not sacrifice, but repentance.  But although we were unfaithful to God, God was always faithful to us.

In Jesus, God himself paid the price we could not pay and thus united us to himself through the new covenant in his blood.  The will of God the Father and God the Son was one, and it was a will to save us, the children God created and loves.  God wills our salvation, and so on the cross, Jesus felt that separation from God that we would have felt for all eternity but for the sacrifice of the Son. 

The second thing that we must understand if we will hear this word rightly is that in this word from the cross, Jesus was saying more than we might realize.  One of our faults in the 21^st century is that we do not know scripture as well as we should.  Today we are too busy for such mundane and uninteresting things as reading, and certainly not reading the Bible.  We are too captivated with our technology, mesmerized by our cell phones and gadgets, our I-pads and I-pods, to take time to read.  And why memorize anything when you can Google it?

And so we don’t hear the full meaning of Jesus’ words in this passage.  If we knew scripture as well as those standing at the foot of the cross that day, we would know that Jesus wasn’t just speaking randomly.  We would have known that Jesus was quoting scripture!   When he said, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me,” he was quoting from Psalm 22.

Jesus was quoting words that he knew every one of his followers would immediately recognize.  It was as if he said, “Twinkle twinkle little star,” and everyone knows the next line is, “How I wonder what you are.”  Or “Jesus loves me, this I know,” we all know the next words are “For the Bible tells me so.” 

When Jesus said, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me,” they knew that the end was, “Future generations will be told about the Lord, and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it.”

Saying that he has done it!  That is how the psalm that begins in forsakenness ends, by thanking God for delivering him, and saying, He has done it!

Do you see the difference that makes?

This Psalm, like many of the Psalms, begins in despair, but ends in victory.  It tells the story of one who went through an excruciating time, but in the end he realized, that God was there all along, and that God delivered him and was worthy of praise. 

The description of the man in the Psalm fits Jesus’ crucifixion.  The Psalmist said that he was scorned and despised by the people; they mocked him and told him to call on God to save him.  The Psalmist speaks of his bones being out of joint, his mouth being dry.  He says, “They stare and gloat over me; they divide my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.” 

But then there is a turning point in the Psalm.  After describing his desperate situation, there comes a point where the Psalmist says, “The Lord did NOT hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him.”  And so I will praise him! 

And the Psalm that Jesus quoted on the cross proved true; the deliverance of God, the deliverance Jesus won in his death, was a deliverance not just for those who stood at the cross that day but to a people yet unborn!  That means all of us! 

So great is the love and faithfulness of God.  Although humans throughout the ages were unfaithful to God, God was always faithful to us.  God kept reaching out to us, through priests and prophets and kings, and when we continued to turn away, God kept turning toward us, kept turning toward us even in our sin, and finally turned into one of us, to bear, once and for all, the cost of our sin, to be the ultimate sacrifice, so that no longer would we be separated from him.  On the cross, God himself felt the forsakenness that we would have felt for all eternity, if not for his sacrifice.  And so now we do not have to fear.  Our God does not forsake us, but has delivered us from sin and evil and even death itself.  And like the Psalmist, we can say that he has done it.

The Seven Last Words from the Cross: Being the Body of Christ

“When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, ‘Here is your son.’  Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’  And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.”  --John 19: 26 - 27

Jesus’ mother and a few others were with Jesus in his final moments, standing at the foot of the cross to hear Jesus’ last words. For Mary, his mother, it must have been almost too much to bear.  Children are not supposed to die before their parents, and especially not in such a horrific, painful way.  And now she stood before the cross, and Jesus was about to be taken from her.  But Jesus did not leave those he loved alone.  Before he died, he looked at his mother and at the disciple whom he loved, and he said to his mother, “Here is your son,” and to the disciple he said, “Here is your mother.” 

Now, it is good, isn’t it, that Jesus’ thoughts were with his mother, that he wanted her to be taken care of when he was gone?  But if we think that this is all this passage is about—caring for our mothers—we are mistaken.  Here, in some of Jesus’ last words, in one of his last acts, he affirmed once again what God saw at creation, when in Genesis God said, “It is not good for man to be alone.”  It is not good for us who are humans to be alone.  God created us to be in community with one another.

Earlier in John’s gospel, after Jesus had told his disciples that the time had come for him to leave them, he prayed for them.  He prayed that THEY WOULD BE ONE, even as he and the Father are one.  This was Jesus’ prayer--when he knew that his arrest was imminent and that the crucifixion was coming--this was Jesus prayer, that his Father would bind the disciples together and make them one.

In saying to his mother and his disciple, this is your mother, this is your son, Jesus has created a new kind of family, a family bound not by ties of blood or genes or DNA, but created by the adoption of the Father who claims all of us as his children. 

In his self-deprecating humor, Will Willimon told about his reaction to a businessman in his city who was indicted for embezzling millions from his company and “bringing thousands of his employees to ruin.”  Before he appeared in front of the federal court, he was (quote) “saved.”  A month later, Willimon saw the man on a Christian talk show on TV.  “There he was, before God and everybody,” Willimon said, “Bible in hand, pious and sweet as a lamb.”

“It was more than I could take. . . ‘The creep!’”  I exclaimed to my wife, Patsy.  ‘Is there no limit to his hypocrisy?  Can you believe this?’

“She, passing through the den, mumbled to me, ‘It’s unbelievable the sort of creeps Jesus is willing to forgive.  Even more incredible is the sort of creeps Jesus commands us to be in church with’” (Will Willimon, Thank God It’s Friday:  Encountering the Seven Last Words from the Cross).

Here at the foot of the cross, when it seemed as if all was torn asunder, when these disparate people could have gone their separate ways and mourned Jesus on their own, Jesus called them together and created something new, gave them to each other as a family.  And although the physical presence of Jesus would be gone, his body would not be, because the body of Christ exists wherever his follows are together.