The 5th Sunday in Lent

Romans 8:6-11

Its the fifth Sunday in Lent. We are just one week away from the start of Holy Week.

I wonder what the disciples were feeling as they journeyed with Jesus toward Jerusalem? He was talking openly now about what would happen there, and it wasn’t good news. The Son of Man, he said, would be delivered into the hands of people who considered him a threat. They would condemn him as deserving execution. And they would carry out the judgment. Jesus spoke openly to them about his impending death.

They didn’t want to hear such talk, of course, any more than you and I want to engage in that kind of conversation when it drifts into our lives. Death is not an easy subject to deal with, let alone when the person at the center of the conversation is yourself, or someone you love.

I wonder how they felt?

The Gospels tell us that the disciples tried their best to change the subject, and when that failed, to urge Jesus to not be so morose and to think happy thoughts instead. “Heaven forbid that anything like that should happen to you, Lord!” they said.

But Jesus knew the score and would not back off. “We’re going to Jerusalem, and there, I will be rejected and killed.”

Like the disciples, most of us would probably prefer a Christianity without a cross – without a crucifixion – without a death. If only we could get to the joy of Easter Sunday without having to pass through the agonizing sorrow of Good Friday! If only we could have a glorious risen Christ without a crucified, dead and buried Jesus.

But we cannot. At the very center of our faith is a death.

Why do you suppose that is?

Perhaps it is because, as Will Willimon sardonically observes about life, “No one gets out of here alive.”

Not our grandparents. Not our mothers and fathers. Not the richest, or the poorest, the weakest or the strongest. No one gets out of here alive.

Not even Jesus.

We can explain the death of Jesus in all sorts of ways, and attach to it all kinds of theological significance – “He died for our sins” – “He gave his life as a ransom” – “Jesus paid it all.” And all those descriptions have immense value in helping us understand the MEANING of Jesus’ death, but they do not get to the true flesh and blood reason WHY Jesus died.

Jesus died…because everybody dies.

Everybody.

“Nobody gets out of here alive.”

Not me. Not you. Not even the Son of God.

Christianity forces us to look straight into the face of what it is to be human. And this Lenten journey to Jerusalem and the Cross is essential in helping us discover the power of our faith for facing up to and finding our way through the immense challenges life throws at people like us – including death.

And just to illustrate this point, I want you to consider Jesus and the disciples as they walk toward Jesus’ death. The disciples are scared, and so is Jesus. The disciples do not want Jesus to die, and Jesus prays that if there is any other way, he’ll take it. The disciples are filled with great sadness, and Jesus sweats tears of blood.

You see, neither Jesus nor the disciples think dying is a very good idea.

But ultimately, Jesus accepts it, faces it, takes it head on, and on that Friday afternoon long ago, Jesus dies.

In the meantime, the disciples…

…run away.

Two different ways of facing death.

Are you running away, too?

Sandy and I were in Las Vegas a few years ago – doing God’s work – and I noticed something that made me ask a similar question. We were people-watching, which is always an interesting thing to do in that city, and there in the middle of the stream of people strolling along the Strip was this one old guy who came jogging along in a sweat-stained tank top. His scrawny old-man’s legs poked out from underneath a pair of bright green gym shorts with a white stripe down the sides. His skinny arms were pumping away, chest heaving, gasping for air. He looked like he was about ready to have a heart attack in the 90-degree heat.

It was such a stark contrast – the rest of humanity just lollygagging along, enjoying the moment, laughing, taking pictures, smiling – and this one little old jogger with agony painted all over his face desperately straining to make it another ten feet.

And all of a sudden it struck me funny. I started laughing. Couldn’t help myself. Sandy poked me in the ribs like she always does when something strikes me funny and I start laughing like a hyena – in public. And what it was that struck me funny was that this old fellow didn’t so much seem to be running TOWARD anything, so much as he seemed to be running AWAY from something.

The Grim Reaper.

DEATH!

And – being the rotten, insensitive person I am – I’m sure I’m going to go to hell for this – I found myself imagining the Grim Reaper chasing this poor guy down the street and through the crowds on Las Vegas Boulevard, and him, with his sweat-stained tank top and bright green gym shorts with the white stripe down the sides, desperately trying to get away.

And I started laughing as it occurred to me that’s what jogging is!!!!

We’re all running away from death – in one way or another.

Even the disciples were running away.

But listen.

In the early morning hours of the third day after Jesus’ death, those same fear-gripped, death-avoiding disciples in sweaty tank tops and green gym shorts with white stripes down the sides suddenly stopped running. It happened to different ones, at different times, and in different ways. But it happened to them all.

They suddenly stopped running, turned around and headed back to Jerusalem, back to the danger, back to where death might well be waiting. And when they got there, despite the danger they faced, they took up the message of Jesus, and in word and deed proclaimed the Good News of new life through Christ the risen Lord. And most of them, you know – eventually – lost their lives doing it.

What do you suppose it was that turned them around?

It was the risen Christ they met on the way.

And that encounter impacted the way they lived and died.

St. Paul, in our reading from Romans, describes a wonderful gift we have been given through faith in Christ. He calls it, “The Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead.” Think about that for a moment. Through faith, you have been given the gift of “The Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead.”

And this Spirit – the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead – has a profound impact upon peoples’ lives. Paul says, this Spirit lifts our thoughts from our own desires to what the Spirit desires. And Paul further describes it as lifting our minds from death – to life! He writes:

“The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.”

I once met a woman who had that Spirit in her. I was just a boy when I met her, and frankly, thought she was a bit of a nut case, but now I think differently. Her name was Mildred Lisette Norman, born in Egg Harbor City, New Jersey in 1908. She was – it is said – the first woman to walk the entire length of the Appalachian Trail in one season. That’s pretty impressive, but it pales in comparison with another series of walks she began on New Years Day, 1953.

Something inspired this woman to take up a life of “living to give instead of to get.” I wonder what it was that put that thought in her head?

She took the name of “Peace Pilgrim” and started walking from Pasadena, California all the way across America. She vowed to “remain a wanderer until mankind has learned the way of peace, walking until given shelter, fasting until given food.” Our church took her in on her way through Massachusetts, and – like I said – I thought she was a nut case then – but now I’ve changed my mind.

As an adult, I well know how elusive peace is. Just take a realistic look at the world all around us. Anybody with half a mind can observe that war wins out over peace, just like death wins out over life.

But what would happen if we had more than just that half of a mind? What would happen if our minds were CHANGED. What if what Paul wrote was true in all of us?

“The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.”

From 1953 to 1981 the Peace Pilgrim walked 25,000 miles back and forth across America saying, “We who work for peace must not falter. We must continue to pray for peace and to act for peace in whatever way we can, we must continue to speak for peace and to live the way of peace; to inspire others, we must continue to think of peace and to know that peace is possible.”

What would make a person think peace was possible in a world so saturated with war? What would make a humble woman believe she could make a difference? What would make frightened disciples, fleeing for their lives, suddenly turn around in the face of death and proclaim the Gospel of life?

Something must have gotten into them! Maybe it was “the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead.”

And maybe that same Spirit has gotten into you!

There have been times in your life when every instinct in your being drove you toward hating, or hurting, or harming another person – but another thought came into your mind and you chose reconciliation instead. There have been moments when you were faced with such immense obstacles and challenges that you were ready to give up, but something inside whispered, “Keep going!” and you made it through to the other side. There have been occasions when you stood up in the face of your own self-interest and took up a higher cause – you gave yourself away, you laid down your own needs, you stood up for the right in the face of the wrong!

That Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead is at work in you!

So stop running away.

Stop running away from that problem you don’t want to face. Stop running away from that relationship that’s broken and needs healing. Stop running away from the seemingly impossible ideals of peace, justice and brotherhood. Stop running away from putting the welfare of others over your own self-interest. Stop running away from your human frailty. Stop running away from the reality that nobody gets out of here alive…

…and stop running away from God’s promise that his love is more powerful than death, and that the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is at work in you!

As you continue the Lenten journey this week, listen for that Spirit within!

And let it turn your life around from defeat and death, to life and peace in the name of Jesus Christ, our risen Lord.

Amen!