Looking At Life From The Point Of View Of Death
Sermon
Tears Of Sadness, Tears Of Gladness
Gospel Sermons For Lent/Easter
As part of my preparation for ministry, I participated in a program called Clinical Pastoral Education, or C.P.E. for short. The purpose of C.P.E. is to teach clergy to become more effective pastors: to make better hospital visits, to counsel people who are dying, to comfort those who are grieving. One day during class our instructor asked us to take out a piece of paper and a pen. Then he gave us these instructions:
During the next twenty minutes, I want each of you to write your own obituary. Imagine that you are going to die soon. How would you want to be remembered? Write an article about yourself for the obituary page of the newspaper.
To say the least, it was a difficult assignment and not just because it forced us to come to terms with our own mortality. It was difficult because it asked us to look at life from the point of view of our own death. It was as if someone were asking, "What about your life is worth remembering from the perspective of death?" One woman in the class was overwhelmed by the assignment. She said, "I can't do it! How can I write, 'She had two homes and a boat'? That's all my life has been."
Each year Good Friday invites us to look at the life of Jesus from the point of view of his passion and death. According to the Gospel of John, the very last words Jesus spoke from the cross were the words, "It is finished" (John 19:30). What did he mean?
When we speak of something or someone as being finished, often we are speaking in terms of failure. For example, when Michael Jordan retired from professional basketball, people said of the Chicago Bulls, "They're finished." In other words, without Jordan the Bulls didn't stand a chance of winning another championship. When you embarrass your boss at an important meeting and afterwards he says to you, "You're finished," chances are good you are not about to get a promotion! When a student taking a final exam realizes that she forgot to study the correct material, she might say to herself, "I'm really finished now," and chances are she is not about to complete the exam in record time. Often when we speak of someone or something as being finished, we are speaking about failure, despair, defeat.
But when Jesus cries out from the cross, "It is finished," he is saying something different. He is not saying, "I'm all washed up, I'm no good, I'm a failure, I'm a flop." Rather, he is saying something like this, "I have lived the life that God intended me to live, a life of service and self--sacrifice that led me to this cross, and now, 'It is finished,' " which is to say - it is accomplished, it is completed, it is fulfilled. As such, Jesus' final words from the cross are not a pathetic and weary cry of defeat, but a triumphant and glorious shout of victory. "It is finished" - I have done with my life what I set out to do and I have glorified God by doing it.
As we thumb through John's Gospel we have the growing sense that Jesus' whole life is pointing toward his death on the cross. As early as the first chapter, John the Baptist sees Jesus approach and says of him, "Here is the Lamb of God (that is, the sacrificial lamb) who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). Not long after, at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, Jesus' mother lets him know that they have run out of wine. He replies, "What concern is that to you and to me. My hour has not yet come" (John 2:4). Twice more, John repeats those same words - "his hour had not yet come, his hour had not yet come" (John 7:30, 8:20) - until finally just prior to his betrayal and arrest, Jesus announces:
"The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." - John 12:23--24
Some time later as Jesus looks down from the cross, his whole life flashes before his eyes. Then, with both courage and confidence he cries out, "It is finished - I have done with my life what I set out to do, and I have glorified God by doing it."
What do you see when you look at life from the point of view of your own death? When the time comes for you to breathe your last breath, will you be able to look back and say with Jesus, "It is finished - I have lived the life that God intended me to live"? Or will you look back regretfully on dreams that you never realized, broken relationships you were unable to fix, a purpose or meaning for your life which you never discovered? How important, therefore, to look at whatever time we have left from the point of view of our own death.
"It is finished," cried Jesus, and clearly there is a sense in which his words speak of finality and completion. But there is also a sense in which they speak not of an end but a great beginning. For didn't Jesus, himself, look beyond the agony of the cross to the glory of the resurrection? Didn't he say, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19)? Didn't he promise us his everlasting presence when in the Upper Room he said to his disciples:
"I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you." - John 14:18--20
Did you notice what he said? "Because I live, you also will live." Most often we understand those words in terms of life after death, and well we should. Jesus himself said as much:
"In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also."
- John 14:2--3
While his words speak about life in the hereafter, they also speak about life in the here and now. "Because I live," he says, "you also will live," right here, right now, right in this very moment of time.
How else can you explain why a man, who for most of his life turned his back on God, is now deeply involved in a local church, soaking up every bit of worship, education, fellowships and mission the church has to offer? What happened to him? Could it be that the redemptive work of Jesus Christ that began on the cross is not finished with him, but just beginning?
How else can you explain why a husband and wife continue to visit their former neighbor at the nursing home, even though he no longer recognizes them because of Alzheimer's Disease? Could it be that the redemptive work of Jesus Christ that began on the cross is not finished with them, but just beginning?
How else can you explain why so many people: hammer and nail for Habitat For Humanity, collect canned goods for the food pantry, give from glad and generous hearts, work for justice and peace in the world, and try to live moral lives that are pure and righteous before God? Could it be that the redemptive work of Jesus Christ that began on the cross is not finished with them, but just beginning?
Hanging on the cross, Jesus looked at his whole life from the point of view of his death. And what he saw pleased him, as it undoubtedly pleased God. No wonder he cried out with his dying breath, "It is finished!"
During the next twenty minutes, I want each of you to write your own obituary. Imagine that you are going to die soon. How would you want to be remembered? Write an article about yourself for the obituary page of the newspaper.
To say the least, it was a difficult assignment and not just because it forced us to come to terms with our own mortality. It was difficult because it asked us to look at life from the point of view of our own death. It was as if someone were asking, "What about your life is worth remembering from the perspective of death?" One woman in the class was overwhelmed by the assignment. She said, "I can't do it! How can I write, 'She had two homes and a boat'? That's all my life has been."
Each year Good Friday invites us to look at the life of Jesus from the point of view of his passion and death. According to the Gospel of John, the very last words Jesus spoke from the cross were the words, "It is finished" (John 19:30). What did he mean?
When we speak of something or someone as being finished, often we are speaking in terms of failure. For example, when Michael Jordan retired from professional basketball, people said of the Chicago Bulls, "They're finished." In other words, without Jordan the Bulls didn't stand a chance of winning another championship. When you embarrass your boss at an important meeting and afterwards he says to you, "You're finished," chances are good you are not about to get a promotion! When a student taking a final exam realizes that she forgot to study the correct material, she might say to herself, "I'm really finished now," and chances are she is not about to complete the exam in record time. Often when we speak of someone or something as being finished, we are speaking about failure, despair, defeat.
But when Jesus cries out from the cross, "It is finished," he is saying something different. He is not saying, "I'm all washed up, I'm no good, I'm a failure, I'm a flop." Rather, he is saying something like this, "I have lived the life that God intended me to live, a life of service and self--sacrifice that led me to this cross, and now, 'It is finished,' " which is to say - it is accomplished, it is completed, it is fulfilled. As such, Jesus' final words from the cross are not a pathetic and weary cry of defeat, but a triumphant and glorious shout of victory. "It is finished" - I have done with my life what I set out to do and I have glorified God by doing it.
As we thumb through John's Gospel we have the growing sense that Jesus' whole life is pointing toward his death on the cross. As early as the first chapter, John the Baptist sees Jesus approach and says of him, "Here is the Lamb of God (that is, the sacrificial lamb) who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). Not long after, at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, Jesus' mother lets him know that they have run out of wine. He replies, "What concern is that to you and to me. My hour has not yet come" (John 2:4). Twice more, John repeats those same words - "his hour had not yet come, his hour had not yet come" (John 7:30, 8:20) - until finally just prior to his betrayal and arrest, Jesus announces:
"The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." - John 12:23--24
Some time later as Jesus looks down from the cross, his whole life flashes before his eyes. Then, with both courage and confidence he cries out, "It is finished - I have done with my life what I set out to do, and I have glorified God by doing it."
What do you see when you look at life from the point of view of your own death? When the time comes for you to breathe your last breath, will you be able to look back and say with Jesus, "It is finished - I have lived the life that God intended me to live"? Or will you look back regretfully on dreams that you never realized, broken relationships you were unable to fix, a purpose or meaning for your life which you never discovered? How important, therefore, to look at whatever time we have left from the point of view of our own death.
"It is finished," cried Jesus, and clearly there is a sense in which his words speak of finality and completion. But there is also a sense in which they speak not of an end but a great beginning. For didn't Jesus, himself, look beyond the agony of the cross to the glory of the resurrection? Didn't he say, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19)? Didn't he promise us his everlasting presence when in the Upper Room he said to his disciples:
"I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you." - John 14:18--20
Did you notice what he said? "Because I live, you also will live." Most often we understand those words in terms of life after death, and well we should. Jesus himself said as much:
"In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also."
- John 14:2--3
While his words speak about life in the hereafter, they also speak about life in the here and now. "Because I live," he says, "you also will live," right here, right now, right in this very moment of time.
How else can you explain why a man, who for most of his life turned his back on God, is now deeply involved in a local church, soaking up every bit of worship, education, fellowships and mission the church has to offer? What happened to him? Could it be that the redemptive work of Jesus Christ that began on the cross is not finished with him, but just beginning?
How else can you explain why a husband and wife continue to visit their former neighbor at the nursing home, even though he no longer recognizes them because of Alzheimer's Disease? Could it be that the redemptive work of Jesus Christ that began on the cross is not finished with them, but just beginning?
How else can you explain why so many people: hammer and nail for Habitat For Humanity, collect canned goods for the food pantry, give from glad and generous hearts, work for justice and peace in the world, and try to live moral lives that are pure and righteous before God? Could it be that the redemptive work of Jesus Christ that began on the cross is not finished with them, but just beginning?
Hanging on the cross, Jesus looked at his whole life from the point of view of his death. And what he saw pleased him, as it undoubtedly pleased God. No wonder he cried out with his dying breath, "It is finished!"
