33 When they arrived at the place called The Skull, they crucified him, along with the criminals, one on his right and the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing.” They drew lots as a way of dividing up his clothing.

35 The people were standing around watching, but the leaders sneered at him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save himself if he really is the Christ sent from God, the chosen one.”

36 The soldiers also mocked him. They came up to him, offering him sour wine 37 and saying, “If you really are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” 38 Above his head was a notice of the formal charge against him. It read “This is the king of the Jews.”

39 One of the criminals hanging next to Jesus insulted him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”

40 Responding, the other criminal spoke harshly to him, “Don’t you fear God, seeing that you’ve also been sentenced to die? 41 We are rightly condemned, for we are receiving the appropriate sentence for what we did. But this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

43 Jesus replied, “I assure you that today you will be with me in paradise.”

The Word of God for the People of God

Thanks be to God!

Of Scandal and Conspiracy

The word Scandal refers to a disgraceful or discreditable action or circumstance.  It’s used to speak of occasions in which people and things we would normally hold in high regard end up in situations that should be beneath them.  I experienced a scandal for the first time in the third grade, when my mom took my brother and I to Baskin Robbins, and I ordered two scoops of Peanut Butter and Chocolate Ice Cream in a cone.  With one slight change in the orientation of my hand, I went from excited to crushed, as I held an empty cone, and two delightful scoops of ice cream lay splattered on the floor.  This is the meaning of scandal for a nine year old.  

If I wanted to give you an example of a conspiracy, I would point you towards our passage for today.  Two weeks ago, we encountered God in a display of power and glory.  Last week, Pastor Brian showed us what it looks like when God comes into our midst, to call us from discomfort into comfort, and from comfort into service.  Today, we’re looking at what God does when our callings fail, and human limitations present themselves.  People killed Jesus, and they did so because that was the course of action that made sense to them.  In a world full of enemies, the Romans knew from experience that the only way to guarantee peace in the center of their empire was by being utterly merciless along its edges.  The High Priests who sentenced Jesus to death depended on Rome’s favor, and killing someone who wouldn’t listen to them was essential for staying alive.  The Old Testament never once discusses the possibility that God might take human form and walk among us, so the only way the High Priests could have known Jesus wasn’t blaspheming by calling himself the Son of God is with the benefit of hindsight.  The story of Good Friday isn’t just a story of atonement, but a story about limited people making difficult choices in real time.  Being a leader is hard.  Jesus would tell us to forgive such people today.  

And so it was that a conspiracy was hatched.  Jesus, God made flesh, was arrested.  The High Priests organized a sham trial, and convicted him.  And in a place called The Skull the Romans executed him.  Jesus allowed all of this to happen.  The Judaeans knew it was God who gave Moses the Law.  If Jesus was who he said he was, how could he submit to be executed as a criminal?  The Romans saw divinity as fundamentally beyond the constraints of the material world.  If Jesus was who he said he was, how could he bleed at all?  The scandal of the Cross is that Jesus chose to accept a death that, in the eyes of many, would have conclusively discredited and disgraced him.  Two weeks ago, we saw God in a heavenly throne room, untouchable and terrifying.  Last week, we saw God emanating from a burning bush, closer now, but still dangerous to approach.  Today, the image of God we confront is this: God rejected, defiled, and humiliated, by human beings putting their humanity on full display.  

According to the dictionary, the word Conspiracy refers to a secret plan hatched by a group of people to do something unlawful or harmful.  To me, that definition is incomplete.  There are helpful conspiracies, and historically, the meaning of harmful and unlawful depends on your point of view.  A conspiracy can be hatched by a single person.  And finally, this definition leaves out one of the core elements of a conspiracy–the element of surprise. 

The greatest conspiracy of all time was hatched a long time ago.  It began in a small town, when a baby was born to a man and a young woman, and laid to rest in a manger.  It continued when this baby grew into a man, who astounded everyone he encountered.  Eventually, this man’s influence became a threat to powerful people, and so powerful people planned to kill him.  And as the Romans and the High Priests plotted, soldiers sharpened blades, and carpenters went to work building a cross, Jesus Christ sprung his trap.

The story of the Cross begins as a story of human limitations.  It does not end that way.  In any good conspiracy, things are never what they seem.  Only now can we see the truth: that as human beings plotted his death, Jesus had us right where he wanted us the whole time.  The Cross was intended as a tool of murder.  God transformed it into an instrument of sanctification.   The Place of the Skull was a place of execution.  God transformed it into holy ground.  And by God’s grace, the people who killed Jesus became unwitting participants in their own salvation.  Jesus’ Crucifixion was never a scandal, but the key to God’s plan to bring us prodigal children back home.  At the Cross, God draws our limitations out into the open, to show us in one decisive moment that nothing will keep God’s love away from us, nothing will break God’s bond with us, nothing “Will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Today, the God of the Cross is with us.  And even now, the God of the Cross is still conspiring.  I want to be very clear in saying that God never causes our suffering, but God is still able to use our lowest moments for good.  This past year, I have stood in front of you, and told difficult stories.  In March, we talked about the shooting at Mother Emmanuel AME Church.   In May, we talked about the story of Kelly Gissendaner, the woman who arranged the murder of her husband and was sentenced to death.  Both of those stories ended in surprising ways.  The families of the victims of Dylann Roof’s hate-filled rampage came together to publicly forgive him, and in prison, Kelly Gissendaner encountered Christ, and ministered to her cellmates, before facing her execution with words of repentance and the lyrics of Amazing Grace.  These stories are more than just stories.  They are proof, that whether in ordinary pains or extraordinary tragedies, as we struggle with the limitations of being human, the God whose limitless love gave us the Cross irresistibly carries on.  In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us.  We are not alone.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.