Holy Week

The word “holy” gets attached to a lot of things in the church. We speak of Holy Communion, Holy Baptism, the Holy Bible, a Holy Cross, and the week leading up to our celebration of Easter as Holy Week. My personal definition of those things that we consider to be “holy” is that they are ordinary, imperfect, and sometimes painful things that God uses to bless the world. God’s use makes them holy.

As a pastor I have had the honor to be with many people as they breathed their last breath. Those are “holy” moments because what was begun in baptism is brought to completion as the promise of eternal life is brought to fruition.

The events of this week include a parade, a meal with friends, foot washing, suffering, and death. These are holy moments in which God is at work and we are invited to participate. 

John 12:12-26

Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:24 NRSV)

Unless. Throughout these weeks of Lent, we’ve been reflecting on those things in life that need to die and be buried so that something new might arise. Unless we bury greed, we cannot live a life of generosity. Unless we bury indifference, compassion and care cannot blossom. Unless we bury distraction, we cannot create necessary space for an encounter with God and neighbor. Unless we bury wastefulness, we cannot foster a life of faithful stewardship. Unless we bury judgment, we will never be open to the transforming power of the grace of God. 

This week we enter into the central mystery of the Christian faith: there is no resurrection unless we die. The path to new life always leads us through pain, suffering, and death. Holy Week teaches us how to die.

One of the most difficult moments for any parent is that moment when you realize that all of the hopes and dreams that you have for your children are just that, yours. If you would have asked me to describe the future I envisioned for my boys when they were little, I guarantee that it would have looked nothing like the path that they are each traveling right now. It wasn’t until my vision for their future died that I could begin to appreciate and cherish what God is doing in their lives. This is a process that has not been without pain, mind you. But with my personal plans out of the way, I’m remarkably free to entrust them to the One who claimed them in the waters of baptism and marked them with the cross of Christ forever. That freedom is helping me to rejoice.

 

John 8:1-11

"Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." (John 8:7)

Be careful what you ask for. The religious people came to Jesus asking for judgment. A woman had been caught in adultery. It takes two to tango, but they don’t seem to be concerned about her dance partner. They made the woman stand in front of the crowd as they hurled accusations and demanded judgment. The law of Moses says that women like this should be stoned to death! There are to be consequences for immorality and sin. 

“You’re exactly right!” Jesus says. “But judgment can only be made by those who are sinless. Those who have not broken the law, coveted a neighbor’s goods, looked at a neighbor’s wife with a wandering eye, received a speeding ticket, spread any kind of gossip, and followed all of Moses’ law to perfection, start warming up your throwing arm.” And with that, the thud of rocks falling to the ground was deafening. No one was left to cast a stone, except Jesus. And what does Jesus do? He offers a word of forgiveness and calls the woman to new life.

Judgment belongs to God alone. When we judge, we claim authority that belongs only to God. It’s best that we leave that obligation to the One whose methods aren’t reduced to condemnation, but rather healing and restoration to new life.

John 8:1-11 NRSV

 1 while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them.
 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them,
 4 they said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery.
 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?"
 6 They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.
 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her."
 8 And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground.
 9 When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.
 10 Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
 11 She said, "No one, sir." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again."
 

1 Corinthians 1:21-31

He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, ³¹ in order that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." (1 Corinthians 1:30-31)

Piano rolled blues, danced holes in my shoes
There weren't another other way to be
For lovable losers, no account boozers
And honky tonk heroes like me – Waylon Jennings, Honky Tonk Heroes

Lovable losers, that’s what Paul says we are. Actually, the word he uses is “foolish.” In spite of our lack of wisdom, power, or social status, God chooses us to be God’s agents of healing in the world. Paul seems to be indicating that based on the world’s standards, the church is a ship of fools. And yet it is a ship whose sails are filled with the wind of the Holy Spirit.   

Paul is writing this letter to the congregation in Corinth; a community of believers that has been caught up in a game of spiritual one-upmanship. Some were claiming to be closer to God because they had been endowed with superior gifts or had special knowledge that afforded them higher status. Paul takes them down a few pegs by helping them remember that God doesn’t operate this way. If the world’s standards of superiority were the rules by which God played, God would not have chosen the cross as a means of self-revelation. In the same way, God seeks to use the weak and despised in the world to reveal his power. If you’re going to boast, he says, then boast in what God is doing in and through you.

1Corinthians 1:21-31 NRSV

 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe.
 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom,
 23 but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
 25 For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.
 26 Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.
 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are,
 29 so that no one might boast in the presence of God.
 30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
 31 in order that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."
 

For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸ The one who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and has human approval. ¹⁹ Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. (Romans 14:17-19)

Kringle from O&H Bakery in Racine, WI

My maternal ancestors are very pious Danish Lutherans. Family reunions, weddings, and funerals always involved kringle, open-faced sandwiches, coffee, and hymn singing. My great grandfather served as Bishop of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church. My grandfather and several great uncles served as pastors in the UELC tradition as well. These folks were known as the “Sad Danes.” You see, the Danish Lutheran community was divided between “sad” and “happy” Danes; though the “sad” Danes preferred to call themselves “holy.” The reason for the split? Dancing. The happy Danes followed the teachings of a guy named N. F. S. Grundtvig. He believed that "amusements such as dancing, dramatics, songs, games, reading of novels and card playing... festivals and celebrations of a social and national character" weren't necessarily wrong. The holy Danes would have none of that. Christian piety called for prayer and devotion, not reckless frivolity. (For those who wonder what happened to me, my paternal ancestors are Roman Catholic. Dad was always the life of the party at the Carlsen family gatherings. Those genetics are strong).

The early Christian communities all struggled with what practices were good and proper and “holy.” This was a source of many problems with which Paul had to contend. That’s what is going on in this passage in which Paul offers an alternative vision of community that rests in Christ, not self-righteous piety. A community that rests in Christ has a particular piety that compels it to offer itself in service, love, and mercy for the sake of the other. To be "holy," as I've mentioned on many occasions, is to be used by God. Like  water, bread, wine, and ancient writings, we are just ordinary (and often broken) vessels that, when used by God to offer grace and forgiveness, become "holy."