Obedience, Forgiveness, Love
a homily based on John 18:1-19:42
______________________________
anonymous

What should I do with my life? What would give my life meaning? That’s what Cheryl Schott kept asking, and deep from within she kept hearing a voice that said "you’ll know." 18 seconds of television changed her life. In 1985 she saw Diane Sawyer interviewing a 12 year old named Mohammed who lived deep in the Sahara. He was starving, homeless, dirty, but a beautiful child. As Cheryl watched, a voice from within said, that boy is my son; that’s my son. The urge to reach out to that boy lasted beyond the 18 seconds he was on the screen. Cheryl and her husband borrowed money, maxed out credit cards, made countless phone calls and traveled into the Sahara desert 400 miles to find Mohammed. He was sick from malaria, an infected club foot and TB when they found him a year later and brought him to this country. Mohammed graduated last Spring from Georgetown’s prestigious School of Foreign Service. 13 years ago, when Mohammed arrived at Cheryl’s home, he thought he was supposed to be the houseboy, and was ready to clean and serve. No, Cheryl explained, you are here to be our son, our son. To which Mohammed replied, I don’t know what that means, but if you teach me, I will learn.

Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved, he said, Woman behold your son.

Throughout the centuries, there have been many depictions of the crucifixion. And the focus is usually, understandably and appropriately, Jesus hanging on the cross. What we often forget, is that there was a whole world beneath that cross: women weeping, disciples hiding, bystanders heckling, and a whole bunch of people busy about their own lives, preparing for the coming Passover; perhaps only vaguely aware of the day’s executions. It is striking, that for just about 18 seconds, Jesus addresses himself to those who are below, giving Mary and John to each other, not only as mother and son, but as a new community.

You and I stand at the foot of the cross. We are that new community. And some of us are weeping, hiding, heckling or just vaguely aware. Today we look at the cross of Jesus and ponder, have we learned what it means to be God’s children. Are we willing to learn if we are shown. For it is a matter of learning OBEDIENCE, FORGIVENESS, LOVE.

OBEDIENCE We don’t like that word because we think it is about following commands, much like a child, or worse, a dog. When did obey get to be a four letter word. It means to listen. Jesus always listened to God. He always let God’s word direct him, guide him, strengthen him, even in the most terrible moment of his life. He wants to teach us obedience. In times of difficulty, confusion, or struggle, it is not the words in the NY Times, on MTV or from the latest new age guru that help us. It is God’s Word. And we must learn from Jesus that we listen to that word, not simply on the Good Fridays of our life, but every day of our life.

FORGIVENESS Forgiveness is one of the hardest things to live. Maybe because it takes more than 18 seconds. Maybe because it means sometimes we have to change course and drive 400 miles into the Sahara. Maybe it is because it means we have to be silent. Notice Jesus in his trial says very little. Where is his brilliant defense? Couldn’t he have used a parable or at least a beatitude? No, he says in the face of hatred, there is no need to retaliate, to argue, to be right. His attitude is one of standing in the power of God. That is what forgiveness is friends. Standing in the power of God; not in the power of getting even, making my point, proving you wrong, getting the last word, making you pay. Forgiveness says those things have no power over me. Just think how different your life might be, if we were really willing to learn forgiveness from Jesus.

LOVE Jesus wants those who stand at the foot of the cross to learn the meaning of love. Yet we confuse love with how we feel. We use love as a kind of bargaining tool, thinking we get something in return. Love, Jesus says, is when you are willing to give yourself to another, because you see yourself in them. Yes, it may be easy to love the beautiful baby in the crib; but difficult to love the moody adolescent; and challenging to love the self centered adult; and impossible to love the one who has betrayed, lied or murdered. It is difficult, challenging and impossible, when we think of love first as putting our arms around them. It is first seeing myself in them. I am moody. I am self centered. I have betrayed. I have lied. I could murder someone. Only when we do not, as Isaiah, says, look away, do we suddenly look at the people we can’t stand at work, the shiftless and lazy, the hundreds of thousands of refugees leaving Kosovo, those who are hungry at this hour… only when we do not look away can we suddenly see, and be able to say. That’s my son. That’s my daughter.

No one is asking you to drive 400 miles into the Sahara to rescue a child. But could we have just a bit more than 18 seconds of your attention, your time? Could this last Good Friday be the turning point for you? Could this be the hour when you finally say, it is about obedience, forgiveness and love? Any time we wonder what we should do with our lives, just look at the cross and those who stand beneath it. You’ll know.