First Congregational Church, UCC - 2009-Lent-Forty Days with Jesus

Matthew 28: 1-10 Resurrection

nospam@example.com (Pastor Tom Ott) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 06:36:17 -0700

Alleluia, Christ is risen!
The Lord is Risen indeed, Alleluia!

The penitential season of Lent is over. With the dawn of this new day, the time for rejoicing has come. Triumphant Alleluias replace our solemn laments. Fasting gives way to joyful feasts. Today the empty tomb transforms the cross from a symbol of agony and death to a symbol of triumph and new life.

After forty days, I am finally ready for Easter. These daily meditations on Matthew’s gospel have helped me think more deeply about the ministry of Jesus and about my own ministry. The conversations with many of you in the small groups I’ve met with at church on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings, and the conversations on this blog have brought new insights to my understandings of God’s word. This year’s season of lent has been a wonderful gift and I want to thank everyone who shared the journey with me.

“Do not be afraid…I am going ahead of you.” Those are the most powerful words of Easter to me. There is so much I don’t know or understand, so much I can never comprehend, but I can choose to put my confidence in Jesus. Today I celebrate the mystery of Easter with confidence and joy knowing that Christ has gone ahead of me and waits to see me.

Matthew 27: 57-66 Burial of Jesus

nospam@example.com (Pastor Tom Ott) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 06:53:36 -0700

After the busyness of all of the Holy Week celebrations, Saturday feels strange to me. There is nothing that can be done. Jesus lies dead in a sealed tomb. The horror of crucifixion has passed, the crowds have disbursed, the scheming has run its course. What is done is done. Saturday, while Jesus lies dead in the sealed tomb, we are left with numbed silence.

Today I need to be still. I’m not ready to sing triumphant alleluias yet. I need to allow the significance of Jesus’ death to sink in. It feels like a fragile time to me, an in between time, a time of dislocation. The quiet isn’t soothing. It feels heavy, almost oppressive. Something should be said or done but there is nothing to say or do. Today is a day to sit with the stillness. What has been is finished. What is to be has not yet begun.

Sometimes I forget that the day between crucifixion and resurrection was a Sabbath day.

Matthew 27:32-56 The Crucifixion and death of Jesus

nospam@example.com (Pastor Tom Ott) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

We don’t really find a theology of the cross in Matthew’s gospel. It is simply reported as an event that took place, like a news report relating the details of what actually happened. Simon was compelled to carry the cross, a drink of wine mixed with gall was offered to the condemned man, a sign was displayed above his head, the crowd mocked him, bandits were crucified next to him, even the inglorious final words of the dying man are reported: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Matthew doesn’t speculate on the meaning of the cross. Those theological queries are left for others to take up. It is one of Paul’s favorite themes in his letters, especially the letter to the Romans. But Matthew isn’t compelled to make sense out of the crucifixion. There is no speculation about an atoning sacrifice, nothing about the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, nothing about the blood price of our sins being paid for in the blood of Jesus. For Matthew, it is just another execution. Jesus was crucified for treason by the Romans.

At the moment of Jesus’ death, Matthew reports that the curtain in the temple was torn in half, and the earth shook, and rocks were split and a terrified soldier acknowledged, “truly this was the Son of God.” It is as if Matthew is acknowledging that even though Jesus was killed, the power of God could not be destroyed. Three days later the reality of that truth would be revealed in the resurrection.

I don’t have much of a theology of the cross. I can’t imagine a bloodthirsty God whose righteous anger needed to be appeased by a perfect and unblemished sacrifice. Jesus paying the price for my sin doesn’t make much sense to me. If God is gracious, then I don’t understand the need for someone else to settle my debt. To me, the cross is a reminder of the depth of God’s deep love for the world. Even after the blood of the beloved Son of God was shed by human hands, God has not forsaken us. Instead of destroying the earth, it shook for a moment, and then God’s love redeemed us all.