Third Word: Woman, here is your son.
0 Comments
[Jesus] replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Luke 23:43
We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon, And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.[i] I confess to being envious of artists. In my family, all of the visual arts abilities traveled on the Y chromosome: my father, brother and one nephew. I don’t even do a good job with stick figures. I wish I could draw or paint because, let’s face it; there are some things that defy words; concepts or images so marvelous, words cannot do them justice. Paradise is one of those concepts, I think. If you could draw “Paradise,” what might it look like for you? My guess is, regardless of artistic ability, we might all paint something different. In the Greek version of the Old Testament, the word we translate as “garden” in the (Genesis, chapter 2) Creation Story is actually the word “paradise.” It is the same word Jesus speaks to the criminal on the cross. It is his promised destination. The Garden (or more literally, Paradise) of Eden must have been a beautiful place. In the description, it sounds so lush and fertile; a river flowed there continually. There were lots of fruit trees, including one called the Tree of Life. In the last century or two before the birth of Jesus, many Jews began to believe in life after death and many imagined Paradise as the destination. That means long before the old rock band Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, those ancient Israelites believed that “we got to get ourselves back to the garden,”[ii] i.e. Paradise. Like a powerful homing instinct, we yearn for Paradise. But here’s something curious… In Revelation, the final book in the bible, at the end of time we find ourselves not in a garden paradise. We find ourselves in a city, the New Jerusalem. A river flows through the middle of the city’s main street and on the river’s bank is the tree of life. It sounds like Eden. So, just as you and I might be apt to paint Paradise from diverse perspectives, apparently our bible writers did the same! So where will we wind up? In a garden or a city? Well, as mysterious and tantalizing as the concept of “paradise” may be, perhaps the best part of Jesus’ promise to the repentant criminal is that he would wind up with Jesus. In other words, maybe when we read that sentence, we shouldn’t read “today you will be with me in Paradise;” but rather, “today you will be with me in Paradise.” Could there ever be any better place than with Jesus? [i] Woodstock lyrics by Joni Mitchell [ii] Written by Joni Mitchell, Woodstock was the lead single on the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young 1970 album Déjà Vu (Atlantic Records). Scripture: Luke 13:22, 31-35
Most of us are familiar with the Robert Frost poem, "The Road Not Taken." It ends with the poignant phrase, Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference In the Church, this coming Sunday (March 20) is observed as Palm Sunday. It is the day we remember Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem at the start of what we now call Holy Week, the last week of Jesus' earthly life. Throughout this Lenten season, my sermons have focused on the topic of "journeys." In the gospel of Luke, Jesus makes very clear to his disciples where he is headed (Jerusalem) and what will happen when he gets there (crucifixion). The writing is on the wall. Even a group of Pharisees (pretty unlikely allies) remind Jesus that Jerusalem is a dangerous place for him to frequent. If he’s wise, he’ll reverse course. But Jesus forges ahead. He forges ahead because he has a clear understanding of the work God has called him to do. His ministry began in the 4th chapter of Luke when he gave a sermon in his hometown synagogue at Nazareth. Reading from the prophet Isaiah, he gave witness to God's call on his life. Those words from Isaiah were his personal mission statement and he never wavered in his mission. From the start Jesus encountered resistant. But he still chose to travel to Jerusalem. He still chose to take the road that led him toward death because he knew that it was also the road that would lead to our salvation. Yogi Berra was famous for saying, “When you come to the fork in the road, take it.” But for most of us, the question would still remain, “which side of the fork should we take?” Our life’s journeys may not be as clear and discernible as we would like them to be. And we may struggle to find our way along life’s path. But, thanks be to God that Jesus knew the path his life should take and he was committed to the journey. He did not take the easy road or the coward’s way out. He gave his life for us. He took the “road less traveled by. And that has made all the difference” for us. |
Trinity VoicesSee what people are saying about Trinity. Read and watch testimonies. Categories
All
Archives
December 2020
|