Gospel: Luke 23:33-43
Grace and Peace to you from God our Loving Creator, and Jesus the Reigning Christ, Amen
The End. Not many stories begin with those two words, but this one does. Jesus washed the disciples feet, ate dinner with them, was handed over to be judged, carried a cross across town, and was nailed to that cross to die. The End. Oh yeah, and Jesus offers forgiveness to the criminal. The End.
Advent is the mirror of Lent, and one could argue, in fact I did last year up here, but Advent could last six weeks instead of four. With Advent’s Gospel texts about the ending of the world, we have a text about the end of Jesus’ mortal world. Or very close to it. And at the end of this text that we just read, there, Jesus gives his final forgiveness to a condemned and guilty criminal. In the Gospel of Luke, we’re not told what these criminals were guilty of, but clearly a crime that deserved a Roman death sentence.
In this Gospel, the author points out Jesus’ innocence a few times, once the innocence of Jesus is confirmed by a Roman soldier himself. The Romans knowingly put an innocent man to death to appease the people, broken humanity. What does Jesus do before offering God their spirit? Forgives the guilty criminal. Divine forgiveness. Divine forgiveness that only comes from divine love for humanity. However broken we are, wherever we are in life, there was the final example that Jesus gave us before death. “Surely, you will be with me in Paradise.”
This is Jesus at the penultimate end of the story. In a month, we’ll listen to the beginning. Eleven months ago, you listened to the beginning of the Lukan story. What’s happened in those eleven months around here? What was the life of this congregation like in those eleven months? I know that I was up here a little over a year ago, preaching a sermon about the end of the world. (Welcome to Advent).
In a month, it’ll be the end of the year, and the end of the decade. Those of you on social media might have participated in or seen the posts of people posting pictures of what they looked like at the beginning of the decade vs the end of it. What would the pictures of this congregation look like? Of Bagley? Of Northern Minnesota? Of this country?
With Thanksgiving in a few days, what kinds of things are you grateful for in this congregation? I apologize for all the questions, but in the words of my rabbi, my religious studies professor in undergrad, “Questions are good. Questions are what keep the conversation open. If we had all the answers, the conversation ends.”
Without conversation, Thanksgiving dinner might get a bit dry, and I don’t mean the food. With Thursday’s conversation comes gratitude. With gratitude… comes forgiveness? There’s something about forgiveness and gratitude, right? Think about it… Can you be grateful for someone, or something, without forgiving them of their wrongdoing?
The tradition of gathering around a table and offering gratitude for those gathered, could have been the root of today’s Gospel lesson. In Luke, before we get to Jesus on the cross forgiving the criminal beside them, we have Jesus gathered with friends around a table sharing a meal and offering forgiveness and gratitude with the washing of feet. Even for Judas. There’s that divine forgiveness again.
I don’t know what Jesus forgiving a betrayer before eating dinner or forgiving a criminal before death means for you, but I know for me, it’s something to live into, and hope to achieve one day. I’m probably like most of our fellow broken humanity, and find it difficult to forgive people who I vehemently disagree with. Usually it’s because their views directly contradict my very existence, so forgiving them is dependent on them seeing my humanity first. I’m not saying that’s where you’re at, where anybody else has to be, or has to feel, but that’s where I’m at.
Earlier this week, I saw a portrayal of the Christmas Armistice in a science fiction show I was watching. If you don’t know the story, the short version is that Allied soldiers and German soldiers on Christmas of 1914 came together for a night and stopped shooting at each other to share a meal, songs and even sports, in the name of celebrating Christmas. Enemies trying to kill each other one minute, and sharing a meal the next. The greatest example of forgiveness I know.
That’s the reign of Christ. The reign of Christ that calls humanity to seeing Christ in one another. Forgiving one another, loving one another, giving thanks for one another. The Reign of Christ is recognizing that the Christ who was born of humble beginnings, lived a life of teachingpreachinglovingserving, and died on a cross, and did it all for us - to save us all from ourselves. Through the Love, Grace and Mercy of God, the reign of Christ is knowing that we are saved so that we can live out our days proclaiming and bettering the world for those around us.
What does the reign of Christ look like in the next year for you? For this congregation? I personally love Advent, with the themes of Peace, Hope, Love and Joy all intermingled with Christmas shopping and end of the calendar year madness. Up here it means winter and early sunsets and hopefully warm beds with plenty of covers and sweaters to keep us warm. Hopefully plenty of great food and celebrations and Christmas carolers and music recitals. Above all, love and gratitude for your friends and neighbors in this holiday season.
One story before I end. Last week, I helped lead this year’s Transgender Day of Remembrance service at First Lutheran in Bemidji. The names of twenty-two people who were killed because of their gender identity were read, along with a corresponding ringing of the church’s bell. Most people in town probably didn’t know why the bell rang that much. But I wanted the bell to ring purely for that question to be asked, and for the bell to be heard by the people of Bemidji. The bell’s vibrations could likely be felt in the nearby Mississippi River, and then sent onward, connecting the rest of the country in those ringing bells.
The reign of Christ is knowing that Christ forgave the criminal before death, and died shortly thereafter - and also knowing - that the death of Christ is not the end of Christ. That the actions put in place on Friday would have ramifications on Sunday, with the resurrection of Christ and the beginning of Christ’s reigning in the world, for the rest of the world, until the end of the world. Reading the names, re-membering the twenty-two trans people into the world around us, sending vibrations down the Mississippi... What we do in the world matters. Our lives matter to one another. I encourage you, when hopefully gathered around the table with friends and family this week, think about what impact that meal will have on you and everyone around you. Your kindness, your love, your gratitude, will send vibrations out in uncountable and unforeseen ways, but know in your heart that - that is the Reign of Christ in the world.
Amen.
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