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Tag: Maundy Thursday

  • Holy Week: A Time to Remember Who and Whose We Are

    Holy Week: A Time to Remember Who and Whose We Are

    In Baptism, we are incorporated into the Paschal Mystery. That is, we are incorporated into the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. His life is our life. His death is our death. His resurrection is our resurrection. It is for this reason that Christians observe Holy Week every year. It is a commemoration intended to put us in touch with that life which the world can neither give nor take away. It is a time to look at the Paschal Mystery and to recover our true identity, our authentic self, in him.

    Five hundred years before Jesus rode into Jerusalem, Zechariah prophesied that the Messiah would be a king. Since the time of the Exile, no Jewish ruler had borne the title of king. “Look, your king is coming to you. Rejoice, rejoice, people of Zion” (Zech. 9:9). The time was just right and the people were happy that day to acknowledge it.

    They wished to crown him their king. In their enthusiasm, they missed the paradox. They saw the glory but overlooked the shadow. But Jesus was conscious of both.

    He knew who he was so the acclamations of the crowd did not impress him. He saw that their palm branches cast the shadow of a cross. He sensed that the kingly crown they were offering to him that day would become a crown of thorns by the end of the week. Jesus knew that the identity the world offered was not a secure identity, not a legitimate identity, and certainly not a dependable identity. No, for Jesus, the only true identity is consciousness of who we are in the eyes of our Creator.

    To the disciples, on the next weekend, it must have looked like the world’s biggest failure, a cruel joke. Imagine being sucked in to a group like “the Twelve.” To them “the Way” must have appeared more like a primrose path. Because they were still so dependent upon the things of the world for their sense of identity, they had to be the most embarrassed people around Jerusalem.

    Then came Easter. Out of the tomb came the Risen Messiah with his identity still intact. “He is risen!” is shorthand for Jesus’ message of resurrection:

    Behold, I have overcome the world. Behold, I died and I am alive. Behold, who you are need never again depend upon who you know, what you wear, where you live, what you do, how much you possess, or even what people say about you. Because I live, you will live also. You will experience new life in me and you will be able to face the popularity contest the world is running with confidence that you don’t really have to enter it in order to find out who you are. Here is my crown. It is yours! Take it! And believe me when I tell you that this crown of glory, which is both mine and yours, will never fade away.

    Who and whose we truly are – that’s what Holy Week and Easter are all about.

    I’ll see you in Church!

    Ron Short Blue Sig Cropped

     

     

     

    The Very Reverend Ron Pogue
    Interim Dean
    Saint John’s Cathedral
    Denver, Colorado

     

  • An Epiphany From a Tall Ship

    Today is Maundy Thursday among Western Christians.  It is the day we recall the experience of Jesus Christ with his Apostles in the Upper Room on the evening before his death.  Because they were gathered there to celebrate the Passover Seder together, we mainly associate the day with the institution of the Holy Eucharist. 

    But the name for this day is derived from something else that happened in that Upper Room.  The English word Maundy in the name for this day of Holy Week is derived from the Latin word mandatum, the first word of the phrase Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos ("I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another."), the statement by Jesus in the Gospel of John 13:34 by which Jesus explained the significance of his action of washing the feet of the Apostles.

    What kind of love has to be commanded?  Obviously, the kind of love Jesus expects us to show for one another, which is a reflection of the kind of love Jesus shows for us.  We sometimes call it "Love Divine" because it is the kind of love that is natural for God.  It is not so natural for humans, so we have to be made conscious of the importance of it.  We have to be commanded.

    In today's ecumenical Holy Week service at Calvary Church in Ashland, Kentucky, our preacher was The Rev. Garrett Bugg, Pastor of Ashland's First Presbyterian Church.  In speaking about the Great Commandment, he referred to Jesus as "the Commander."  It is intriguing to think of Jesus Christ as "the Commander."
    Tall_ship_elissa
    An analogy formed in my mind from my experience sailing on Elissa, the official Tall Ship of Texas.   Elissa is a three-masted, iron-hulled sailing ship built in 1877 in Aberdeen, Scotland by Alexander Hall & Company. She carries nineteen sails covering over one-quarter of an acre in surface area.  Her home port is Galveston, Texas and from there she sails from time to time during the year, usually on day sails, with a crew of dedicated and sturdy volunteers.

    Originally, her crew consisted of about five or six.  These days, the ship's crew is made up of about twenty-five.  Twenty four crew members sail her and one crew member is the cook.  The Captain of the ship is usually brought in from some other part of the country to command the crew.  He stands above the deck in a place where he can see where the ship is headed, where the crew members are deployed, and the position of all the sails.  From that vantage point, he shouts commands such as "on the main," "on the fore," "batten down the hatches," and "come about."  After the command is given, the crew members responsible for carrying it out shout it back to the commander, indicating that they not only heard the command but are carrying it out.  This amazing litany of command and response onboard a massive sailing vessel makes it possible for the ship to sail on course and safely reach her destination.

    Jesus Christ, our Commander, gives the command to love one another just as he has loved us. The response he awaits is for us not only to let him know we have heard the command, but to carry it out.  "If you know these things," he promises, "you are blessed if you do them" (John 13:17).

    Although it is a very long way from the image of Jesus bending down to wash the feet of his crew to the image of a naval commander shouting instructions to his, I believe there are many similarities when it comes to fulfilling a mission.  Jesus issued the Great Commandment with a clear vision from a unique vantage point.  The cooperation and welfare of his crew on their journey and safe arrival at a particular destination were his primary concerns.  His own obedience to the mission was an inspiration to those from he sought obedience.  Teamwork, cooperation, and oneness are necessary to complete the mission of a sailing vessel as well as the mission of Jesus Christ.  His Great Commandment is still essential in carrying out his Great Commission.

    If we want the world to believe in our Savior, we have to learn to fulfill his command.  The way his love is lived out among his followers in word and action is our most authentic and believable witness.  If doing for one another what he has done for us were so simple, he would never have put it into the form of a command.

    Now that we know these things…

    Ron Short Sig Blue

  • What kind of love has to be commanded?

    A couple of weeks ago on Maundy Thursday, we read the account of Jesus and his disciples in the Upper Room.  In that passage, Jesus commands his disciples to love.  What kind of love has to be commanded?

    My reaction to execution of terrorist Osama bin Laden motivated me to search for a fresh answer to that question. 

    Gay and I were on a flight home from our nephew's confirmation.  Within seconds after the wheels of the aircraft touched the tarmac, the man in the seat behind us said, "We've killed bin Laden!"  He had turned on his smart phone and was reading the news that had been released while we were in flight.

    My first response was one of relief.  That seemed reasonable, given the number of innocent lives he took and the threat he represented.  Then I felt a sense of joy.  That didn't seem right, given what I preach.  For the last week, I've struggled with the disconnect between my human feelings and my theological views.  On the one hand, I found myself saying, "Good riddance!  We got him!"  On the other hand, the words of Jesus to his followers rang in my ears, "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (Jn. 13:34, 35).

    Yes, Jesus, but you were talking to your friends who had been following you around.  Osama bin Laden was our enemy.  He murdered thousands of people and not just Americans.  He did it in the name of God.  Why can't we be happy he's dead?  How does one reconcile feelings of hatred and happiness for retribution with this commandment to love?

    In case you think Jesus doesn't answer such questions, here's the next epiphany that came to me.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?” (Mt. 5:43-46a).

    What kind of love has to be commanded?  Certainly not the feeling of love.  Feelings sort of happen on their own, not because we make them happen.  It is easy to love someone who is loveable and easy to hate someone who is hateful.

    The love that Jesus commands is not grounded in human emotions.  Love divine is grounded in the heart and mind of God.  Such love has always been God's desire and God's decision about how things need to work in God's creation.  It is the love that conquers human emotions, such as fear and hatred.  Jesus demonstrated how this love is expressed in his dealings with both friends and enemies.  His friends denied, betrayed, and deserted him.  His enemies plotted against him, mocked him, and crucified him.  He could have hated both his friends and his enemies.  Instead, love divine became flesh and reigned from the cross.  We are commanded to love like that – not because we feel like it, but so that our natural emotions will not enslave us.  True freedom is found in that way of loving.  It is a merger of human will with God’s will.

    There is an old rabbinical story of when Moses led the people of Israel through the parted Red Sea. The armies of Pharaoh pursued them, but the water enveloped them and they died. The angels in heaven started dancing and rejoicing.  But the low voice of God was mournfully heard to say: “Dare you rejoice when my children are dying?”  My Israeli friend Mishi Neubach told me that this story is printed on the first page of the handbook that is issued to every person in the Israeli Army.  “Its purpose,” he said, “is to teach that while you may have to kill your enemy, you may not hate him and you may not rejoice over his death.”

    Just before Holy Week, Gay and I toured the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.  These words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. are inscribed there:  “I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

    Anyone can hate.  After all, the actions of bin Laden and his followers were motivated by hate.  Did we not see images of them dancing in the streets after 9/11?  Are we any better if we engage in similar demonstrations over the death of their leader?  What is a better response?

    The followers of Jesus will be recognized by the love they choose to demonstrate instead of hate.  That kind of love has to be commanded.  It doesn’t come naturally.  Feelings such as hatred emerge from the primitive reptilian part of our brains.  The love that has to be commanded is the result of the exercise of higher human intelligence seeking the mind of God.  It is the inspired decision to resist emotions that harm so that God can love through us.

    The love that Jesus commands us to exhibit has to be smarter and more reliable than human emotion.  When Jesus sends us out like sheep in the midst of wolves, this love will make us “wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Mt. 10:16).   The reason the love that has to be commanded will ultimately triumph is that the wiser decisions leading to the welfare and peace of the world depend upon it.  It is the way to true freedom for all God’s children.

    Ron